For a second time in the span of a week, the government watchdog group Judicial Watch announced Wednesday that it has filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency.
This time, it is seeking an unclassified report assessing Russia’s interference in foreign elections. The lawsuit was filed after the CIA failed to respond to a Dec. 14 FOIA demand that had a due date of Jan. 24.
Judicial Watch’s interest in the report was triggered by a Dec. 13 article in The Wall Street Journal that exposed the existence of such a report. In the article, U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, was said to have been “pushing for the unclassified version of a report assessing Moscow’s interference in foreign elections, particularly across Europe.”
The article further states:
The White House already released a classified version of the assessment but Mr. Turner has been pushing for the unclassified version, which would be releasable to the public, he said. Mr. Turner sent the White House a letter … demanding for the unclassified version of the report.
“The fact that the administration is picking and choosing the information it releases and who they release it to ought to give everybody concern that the administration is manipulating this,” he said.
The report is critical for a better understanding of what Moscow is up to in elections overseas, he said. Mr. Turner said the Obama administration is cherry picking what it releases.
“The illegal secrecy on the Obama administration’s anti-Trump Russia ‘investigations’ must end,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “This report about Russia’s influence operations in Europe must not be helpful to the Obama anti-Trump Russia narrative—otherwise we wouldn’t have to sue in federal court to get it.” {eoa}
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