BuzzFeed and reporter Jason Leopold filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit on Thursday, seeking records related to President Donald Trump‘s statements about his offices being wiretapped by the Obama administration. Leopold filed a FOIA request on March 6, to which he and BuzzFeed claim the Trump administration failed to effectively respond.
The lawsuit requests records including emails, text messages, and memos related to tweets the President posted on March 4, alleging that predecessor Barack Obama spied on his offices before November’s election.
Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my “wires tapped” in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
Is it legal for a sitting President to be “wire tapping” a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
The lawsuit is being brought against several federal agencies (because the White House is not subject to FOIA requests), including the Department of Justice, the CIA, the NSA, and the Department of Homeland Security. The Departments of Justice, and Homeland Security have not responded to LawNewz.com‘s request for comment on the matter.
Matt Mittenthal, a spokesman for BuzzFeed News, said in a statement to LawNewz.com:
As the Department of Justice itself has acknowledged, there are ‘hundreds’ of official communications related to the President’s tweets, including the claim that President Obama illegally wiretapped Trump Tower. Given the magnitude and clear public interest of this and other allegations, we believe that the Trump administration is legally obligated to turn over these records.”
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