Washington, D.C. (June 12 2019) – Cause of Action Institute (CoA Institute), celebrated a victory for its client, the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF), after the U.S District Court for the District of Columbia denied the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) motion for an Open America stay. The victory for DCNF will ensure the FBI produces court ordered records, 500 records per month, pertaining to DCNF’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for documents relating to Special Government Employee Daniel Richman. The Court largely echoed the arguments made by CoA Institute that the FBI failed to show any unexpected spike in FOIA requests or litigation and had not properly reduced its FOIA backlog.
06/12/2019
03/7/2019
Records Show Former FBI Chief of Staff Sent White House National Security Council Documents to Personal E-mail Account
Former FBI Chief of Staff James Rybicki forwarded a White House-originated e-mail with a draft speech for then-President Obama to a personal e-mail account in December of 2015. The FBI withheld in full the content of the draft speech after consulting with the White House National Security Council about its release. The e-mail was part of the last production of FBI documents in Cause of Action Institute’s FOIA litigation against the FBI regarding the work-related use of personal e-mail accounts by former FBI Director James Comey and former FBI Chief of Staff James Rybicki.
The final FBI production also includes e-mails from former Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Administrator and FBI Chief of Staff Chuck Rosenberg, who repeatedly used a private e-mail account for official business in conversations with former FBI Director James Comey.
It’s concerning to see high ranking officials violating government policies – setting a poor example to those they’re responsible for supervising and undermining the public trust that all public business can be properly archived and disclosed. When public officials conceal their work – the economic and individual rights of taxpayers is at risk, which is why Cause of Action remains vigilant and committed to holding all government officials accountable.
You can view and download the documents from this production here:
The first document production can be viewed here, the second here, and the third here.
Kevin Schmidt is Director of Investigations for Cause of Action Institute. You can follow him on Twitter @KevinSchmidt8
01/4/2019
Investigation Update: The FBI’s Third Production of Documents Showing Personal Email Use by High-Level Employees
Cause of Action Institute (CoA Institute) has obtained a third batch of documents in our investigation of personal email use by former FBI Director James Comey and former FBI Chief of Staff James Rybicki. The FBI’s latest records production is the third of four rolling productions. The first document production can be viewed here and the second here.
The FBI produced 101 pages of records that cover one year of FBI operations calendars between December 2014 and December 2015 that former FBI Chief of Staff James Rybicki forwarded to his personal email account. As with previous document productions, the FBI appears to improperly redact names of FBI employees, even though they can be easily identified. For example, this February 2015 travel manifest redacts Director Comey’s name despite the fact that his speech at the conference is public knowledge according to local press reports: “The training, which began Monday at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut, included a keynote address by FBI Director James Comey. The LEEDS training description said it “enables participants to reflect upon and regroup for the next stage of their careers.”
You can view and download the documents here:
18 Cv 1800 File 2 Section 1 Part 2 (Text)
Kevin Schmidt is Director of Investigations for Cause of Action Institute. You can follow him on Twitter @KevinSchmidt8
12/7/2018
Records Show How Former FBI Director James Comey Misled the DOJ Inspector General About His Personal Email Use
- The ability to shroud government action in secrecy harms the rights of every American and undermines a free and open society
- Cause of Action Institute filed a FOIA request and later sued DOJ after former FBI Director James Comey admitted to using personal email to conduct official business
- Cause of Action Institute has been at the forefront of ensuring the government remains transparent and accountable as technology and communication channels have evolved
- DOJ provided the first installment of records relating to our lawsuit on Nov. 9, 2018, this blog relates to the latest installment of records and additional records are expected to be released at the end of December and January
Cause of Action Institute (CoA Institute) has obtained a second batch of former FBI Director James Comey and former FBI Chief of Staff James Rybicki’s emails sent or received on their personal, non-official email accounts to conduct agency business. The FBI’s latest records production is the second of four rolling productions. The FBI reviewed 518 pages of emails and released 439 pages to CoA Institute. Once again, these emails undermine Director Comey’s statements concerning the types of matters he discussed while using his personal email to conduct official business.
Last month, CoA Institute published the first set of records received as part of our FOIA lawsuit. Contrary to Director Comey’s representations to the DOJ that he never used his personal email account for “sensitive work,” the first batch of emails we obtained revealed otherwise. Those records included emails withheld in full and others redacted in part under the FOIA’s law enforcement exemption, which exempts from public disclosure certain sensitive information created or compiled for law enforcement purposes.
This new second batch of emails tells much of the same story. For example, the redactions in the completely redacted email below cite 3 bases for the application of the law enforcement exemption (b7A, C, & E). These exemptions pertain to information that, if released, could (A) interfere with law enforcement proceedings, (C) constitute an invasion of personal privacy, or (E) disclose law enforcement techniques and thereby risk circumvention of the law. In other words, the FBI determined that the work Director Comey conducted on his personal account was so sensitive in nature that it justified redaction under Exemption 7 of the FOIA to prevent disclosure to the public.
As explained in the FBI’s cover letter accompanying the production to CoA Institute, the FBI is only providing emails that Director Comey and his Chief of Staff forwarded or copied to their official FBI email accounts: “The FBI conducted email searches for any communications to or from James Rybicki’s and James Comey’s personal email accounts, located within Rybicki’s and Comey’s FBI email accounts.” This follows from Director Comey’s claims that all FBI-related work he conducted on Gmail was forwarded to an official FBI account. As Director Comey told the DOJ Inspector General:
“I was always making sure that the work got forwarded to the government account to either my own account or Rybicki, so I wasn’t worried from a record-keeping perspective was, because there will always be a copy of it in the FBI system.”
But if Director Comey misrepresented the nature of the work he conducted on his personal email account, a plausible concern arises as to whether Director Comey thoroughly searched and forwarded all work related emails from his personal account to his government account This is why using private email accounts for government business is so problematic: The agency—and ultimately the public—must rely on the very people who are violating the rules by using personal email accounts to forward their work-related emails to official government accounts. If they forget or choose not to copy an official account, there is little chance the agency will ever search for and recover the federal records created or received on those personal accounts. And that means those records cannot be produced to the public under the FOIA. The use of non-official accounts to conduct agency business, whatever the reasoning, imperils transparency, accountability, and good government, and it undermines trust.
You can view and download the documents here:
Part 1 (411 pages)
Part 2 (30 pages)
Kevin Schmidt is Director of Investigations for Cause of Action Institute. You can follow him on Twitter @KevinSchmidt8
Thomas Kimbrell is an Investigative Analyst at Cause of Action Institute.
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Media Contact: Matt Frendewey, matt.frendewey@causeofaction.org | 202-699-2018
08/9/2018
CoA Institute President and CEO John Vecchione Discusses CoA’s Two Lawsuits Against the DOJ
Cause of Action Institute (“CoA Institute”) President and CEO John Vecchione appeared on the Daily Ledger to discuss CoA’s two lawsuits against the DOJ for failing to comply with numerous FOIA requests.
The interview comes after CoA Institute filed two complaints against the DOJ in six days for failing to respond to Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) requests. CoA’s first suit was a result of DOJ’s failure to respond to three requests in regards to the use of a personal email by former FBI Director James Comey, former FBI Chief of Staff James Rybicki, and DOJ’s Director of Public Affairs Sarah Isgur Flores.
CoA’s second law suit, filed on behalf of the Daily Caller News Foundation, comes after the FBI failed to respond to a FOIA requesting communication records and work product relating to Daniel Richman, a “Special Government Employee” (SGE) hired by former FBI Director James Comey. Richman gained notoriety when James Comey admitted to using Richman to leak memos to the media.
08/7/2018
Cause of Action Institute Files Suit Against DOJ for Emails Relating to Daniel Richman: Second lawsuit in six days against DOJ for failing to comply with FOIA
WASHINGTON, D.C. – August 7, 2018 – Cause of Action Institute (“CoA Institute”), on behalf of the Daily Caller News Foundation (“DCNF”), filed a complaint against the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) seeking access to all communication records relating to Daniel Richman, a “Special Government Employee” (SGE) hired by former FBI Director James Comey. Richman gained notoriety when James Comey admitted to using Richman to leak memos to the media.
John J. Vecchione, president and CEO of Cause of Action Institute issued the following statement:
“For the second time in less than a week, we are compelled to sue DOJ, in this case on behalf of our client, the Daily Caller News Foundation, for failing to follow the law and release emails relating to former FBI Director James Comey and other high ranking and controversial DOJ employees. These are matters of high public concern. This is an unacceptable pattern of behavior and we will not back down in our pursuit of government transparency and accountability.”
In April 2018, DCNF filed a Freedom of Information request (FOIA) requesting “…all communications between the bureau and Mr. Richman concerning his SGE work assignments, all intra-bureau communications about Mr. Richman and his assignments and activities, as well as all work product delivered to Director Comey or to others within the bureau … additionally all of Mr. Richman’s work product whose messages were conveyed to the public in FBI comments, speeches and printed material.”
The FBI confirmed receipt of the FOIA and granted DCNF a media waiver concerning fees. However, since May 7, the FBI has refused to produce the documents or provide an update on the status of the FOIA.
Mr. Richman played a significant role in a contentious matter of government accountability and the records pertain to both the conduct and communications between two high-profile and controversial government officials. Consistent transparency and the subsequent production of these records by the FBI are imperative to maintaining the trustworthiness and integrity of the government.
The full complaint can be viewed below.
About Cause of Action Institute
Cause of Action Institute is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, dedicated to providing government oversight, transparency and advocating for economic freedom and individual opportunity advanced by honest, accountable, and limited government.
Media Contact:
Matt Frendewey
matt.frendewey@causeofaction.org
202-499-4231
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Open in new tab 08/1/2018
Cause of Action Institute Sues DOJ for Refusing to Release Comey Emails
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Aug. 1, 2018 – Cause of Action Institute (“CoA Institute”) today sued the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for failing to respond to three FOIA requests pertaining to the use of personal email by former FBI Director James Comey, former FBI Chief of Staff James Rybicki, and DOJ’s Director of Public of Affairs Sarah Isgur Flores.
The recent Office of Inspector General (OIG) report on the Hillary Clinton email scandal disclosed that Comey had used his personal email to conduct official business, but that OIG was, “never given access to all the work-related emails.” Comey claimed he either forwarded emails from his personal account to his official account or to Chief of Staff Rybicki. In an unrelated incident last year, Flores was cited as using her Gmail account to issue a statement on behalf of the Attorney General in response to a Washington Post article. CoA Institute filed three FOIAs relating to these matters, and in each case, DOJ failed to respond within the statutory timeframe.
Cause of Action Institute Counsel Ryan Mulvey:
“There is no reason for the U.S. Department of Justice to stonewall and ignore these FOIA requests. The requested emails, even though created or received on personal devices or in personal accounts, are agency records and the public has every right to access them. It should never have been necessary for us to sue the DOJ, the nation’s chief law enforcement body, to force it to abide by its obligations under the FOIA.”
The three FOIA requests include:
- June 14, 2018 – Office of Inspector General FOIA request for “all emails sent or received by former FBI Director James Comey or former FBI Chief of Staff James Rybicki on a personal email account … conducting official government business, that were acquired or reviewed by” OIG.
- June 14, 2018 – FBI FOIA request for, “all emails sent or received by former FBI Director James Comey or former FBI Chief of Staff James Rybicki on a personal email account … conducting official government business…”
- March 2, 2017 – Office of Information Policy FOIA request for, “any email, including attachments, sent by Sarah Isgur Flores on or about March 2, 2017 from a non-governmental email account, containing a statement in response to news reports that Attorney General Jeff Session met with the Russian Ambassador during the 2016 Presidential Election.” CoA Institute also asked for, “all other emails, including attachments, sent or received by Sarah Isgur Flores on a non-government email account that were for the purpose of conducting official government business.”
The full complaint can be viewed below.
About Cause of Action Institute
Cause of Action Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit working to enhance individual and economic liberty by limiting the power of the administrative state to make decisions that are contrary to freedom and prosperity by advocating for a transparent and accountable government free from abuse.
Media Contact:
Matt Frendewey
matt.frendewey@causeofaction.org
202-699-2018
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