Citizens United Files New FOIA Lawsuit Against State Department
Washington, DC – Today, Citizens United filed a lawsuit to compel the Department of State to comply with the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) and release documents in response to four FOIA requests that Citizens United has filed.
“History taught us one thing about Hillary Clinton, it takes a court order for her to play by the same set of rules as everyone else,” said, David N. Bossie, President of Citizens United. “Last Friday, United States District Court Judge Gladys Kessler ordered the release of documents relating to Hillary Clinton’s overseas travel while serving as Secretary of State. Today, we urge the District Court to compel the release of additional documents in response to FOIA requests that have gone unfilled for 10 months.”
On May 15, 2014 Citizens United filed a FOIA request for communications between Kris Balderston and Teneo Consulting founder Doug Band. The State Department, by law had twenty working days (June 13, 2014) to produce any and all responsive documents, unless they were subject to an exemption from FOIA.
Don’t Miss Out
Subscribe to our free email newsletter and get all the latest sent directly to your inbox.
On July 29, 2014 Citizens United filed three FOIA requests. The first request sought correspondence between Huma Abedin and Teneo Consulting officials. The second request sought correspondence between Cheryl Mills and officials at the Clinton Foundation. The third request sought correspondence between Huma Abedin and Clinton Foundation officials.
The State Department failed to produce any substantive response to Citizens United’s requests by the August 26, 2014 statutory deadline.
As of March 16, 2015 the State Department has failed to produce any records in response to these Citizens United FOIA requests. Citizens United’s only recourse is to ask the Court to compel the Department of State to comply with the law.