On February 27, 2018, CfA filed three Freedom of Information Act ("FOIA") lawsuits against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. State Department, and the United States Agency for International Development regarding the Trump Administration's efforts to rollback access to family planning services. These are the original FOIA requests.
On February 6, 2018, CfA filed 5 Freedom of Information Act requests for information about Health Hall, Deputy Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration ("FRA"). Despite his position in the federal government, Mr. Hall apparently continued to work as a communications consultant in Mississippi. On January 26, 2018, Politico reported Mr. Hall is on “an extended leave” of absence from the FRA. Mr. Hall’s name is no longer listed on the FRA’s website.
On December 8, 2017, Campaign for Accountability submitted a Missouri Sunshine Request regarding the usage of secret messaging apps by Missouri Governor Eric Greitens and his senior staff. The Kansas City Star reported Gov. Greitens and his senior staff use the phone-based app Confide, which deletes messages after they have been read and prevents recipients from saving them.
On August 17, 2017, Campaign for Accountability filed a Freedom of Information Act Request with the Consumer Financial Protection Board to follow up on a Seattle Times/ Center for Public Integrity investigation into predatory lending practices of Clayton Homes, one of the nation’s largest mobile home sellers.
On November 23, 2016, Campaign for Accountability asked the Obama administration to publicly release information regarding security for Trump Organization properties around the world. Now that Donald J. Trump has been elected President of the United States, these properties and guests and visitors to them are facing increased security risks. If the Trump organization and/or the U.S. is relying on foreign governments to provide security at any of these properties, it may implicate the Emoluments Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which provides that no government officer may “accept any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince or foreign state.”
In November 2016, Campaign for Accountability filed Freedom of Information Act requests with the FBI and Department of Justice seeking any criminal records regarding President-elect Donald J. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
On July 6, 2016, Campaign for Accountability sent a letter to Liberty Counsel, a religious-right group representing Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, seeking the release of documents responsive to its open records request. The day before, Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear issued an opinion concluding Ms. Davis had violated Kentucky’s Open Records Act by failing to provide his office with records she claimed were exempt from disclosure to help in his independent review.