WASHINGTON – Empower Oversight filed two appeals challenging the Department of Justice (DOJ) for its inadequate response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests: (1) one appeal relates to DOJ’s failure to disclose information related Special Counsel John Durham’s budget request, and (2) the other appeal relates to DOJ’s hiring of Durham critic and former Brookings Institution employee Susan Hennessey. The appeals argue that the DOJ failed to conduct an adequate search for responsive documents and improperly redacted information that is not exempt from disclosure under FOIA.
In February of this year, Empower Oversight filed suit against the DOJ in the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to enforce the FOIA requests, originally submitted on July 12 and August 19 of last year. DOJ failed to comply with its legal obligation to produce documents responsive to the requests until after Empower Oversight filed its lawsuit.
If you have first-hand information you’d like to disclose to assist Empower Oversight with these inquiries, please contact us confidentially here.