Trump administration has sought to evade accountability by repeatedly thwarting congressional Democrats’ constitutional authority to conduct routine oversight
Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action and Federal Rights, Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Adam Schiff (D-CA), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, on Friday submitted a batch of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to the Department of Justice seeking records of various episodes of potential executive branch misconduct or corruption.
FOIA provides a statutory right for the public to request and receive government records. Members of Congress typically need not resort to seeking records through FOIA because the Constitution grants Congress broad oversight authority that includes the power to obtain information relevant to their legislative responsibilities. The Senators filed these FOIA requests after parallel inquiries and requests have been summarily ignored or met by incomplete answers from recalcitrant Trump administration officials despite Congress’s constitutional oversight power.
“The ‘no transparency’ Trump administration has repeatedly thumbed its nose to my many legitimate oversight requests. For Democrats, there’s plenty of dripping contempt, insults, and stonewalling of Congress’s constitutional oversight authority. But for Republican priorities, there’s a fast-track for document dumps,” said Senator Whitehouse. “FOIA requests are our last resort to get answers to questions that are important to the American public.”
“We’re filing these FOIA requests because we’ve been stonewalled and slow-walked by the Trump Administration for too long. By resisting and preventing our efforts for oversight, this Administration is allowing corruption, deception, and misconduct to take hold and fester within our government. Congressional oversight is needed to root out fraud and abuse— trademarks of this Administration. These FOIA requests are an attempt to bring about desperately-needed accountability and transparency,” said Senator Blumenthal.
“It is Congress’s constitutional responsibility to conduct oversight of the executive branch, but under Donald Trump, the administration has either stonewalled or outright refused to answer many of the questions the American people are asking,”said Senator Schiff. “Under Senator Whitehouse’s leadership, my colleagues and I are filing these FOIA requests to finally get answers on some of the administration’s most egregious actions.”
A summary of the twelve topics about which the Senators filed FOIAs requests is below:
- Emil Bove OPR Complaint: The Senators requested records related to Senators Whitehouse and Blumenthal’s ethics complaint to the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility concerning then-Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove’s conduct in dismissing pending federal charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams. The FOIA requests can be viewed here.
- Judicial Communications: The Senators requested records related to the delay of contempt of court proceedings implicating Emil Bove, which prevented the Senate Judiciary Committee from obtaining information about Bove’s conduct in court proceedings prior to his judicial nomination hearing and confirmation vote. The FOIA requests can be viewed here.
- Jeffrey Epstein SARs: The Senators requested records related to federal anti-money laundering suspicious activity reports (SARs) that showed more than 4,725 wire transfers totaling $1.08 billion involving Jeffrey Epstein and his associates between 2003 and 2019. The FOIA requests can be viewed here.
- Ghislaine Maxwell: The Senators requested records related to the transfer of Ghislaine Maxwell, a convicted child sex trafficker and associate of Jeffrey Epstein, from Federal Correctional Institution Tallahassee to Federal Prison Camp Bryan. The FOIA requests can be viewed here.
- Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund: The Senators requested records related to the Department of Justice and FBI’s investigation into the Environmental Protection Agency’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The FOIA requests can be viewed here.
- Tom Homan: The Senators requested records related to White House Border Czar Tom Homan reportedlyaccepting $50,000 in cash from undercover FBI agents in exchange for future government contracts. The FOIA requests can be viewed here.
- Kleptocracy: The Senators requested records related to Attorney General Pam Bondi disbanding the Justice Department’s anti-kleptocracy initiatives, including Task Force KleptoCapture, the Kleptocracy Team, and the Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative. The FOIA requests can be viewed here.
- U.S. Marshals Judicial Threats Investigations: The Senators requested records related to the online orchestration of threats against federal judges who have ruled against the Trump administration. The FOIA requests can be viewed here.
- Kash Patel Grand Jury Testimony: The Senators requested records related to FBI Director Kash Patel’s grand jury testimony in an investigation into possible misconduct by President Trump and Patel’s invocation of his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. In two hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patel made conflicting statements about whether a court order prevented him from describing the testimony he gave, which grand jury witnesses are normally free to do. The FOIA requests can be viewed here.
- Qatari Plane: The Senators requested records related to President Trump accepting an airplane as a gift from Qatar in likely violation of the Emoluments Clause and AG Bondi’s role in advising on the legality of the gift. The FOIA requests can be viewed here.
- White House Contacts Policy: The Senators requested records related to DOJ’s White House contacts policy. The FOIA request can be viewed here.
- Jared Wise: The Senators requested records related to DOJ hiring Jared Wise, a Jan. 6 rioter who encouraged rioters to kill Capitol Police officers. The FOIA requests can be viewedhere.
Whitehouse has long urged his Congressional colleagues to take up bipartisan reform efforts to strengthen Congress’s hand in executive branch oversight. Whitehouse and Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) held a series of hearings during the Biden administration that culminated in a bipartisan report detailing the logjam of information disputes between the executive branch and Congress that is thwarting Congress’s constitutional authority to conduct oversight.
