Biden administrator indicted in absconding lawsuits

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Global Courant 2023-04-18 10:50:31

EXCLUSIVE: A watchdog group filed two federal lawsuits Monday against the Biden administration, alleging that it violated federal law by not sharing communications involving the daughter of Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.

Protect the Public’s Trust (PPT), a nonprofit watchdog organization, asked a federal court in the lawsuits — one filed against the Department of the Interior (DOI) and the other filed against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) — to force the two agencies to fulfill her requests for information. On January 2, PPT filed requests for information with the DOI and BLM, requesting communications with Haaland’s daughter Somah and top agency officials.

The requests for information, filed under the Freedom of Information Act, which requires the federal government to publicly share certain documents, notices and information with the public, came after a Fox News Digital report revealed that Somah Haaland had lobbied federal lawmakers over hot-button oil and gas lease issues overseen by her mother.

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In addition to lobbying lawmakers, the activists screened a film narrated by Somah Haaland that “shows the threats” posed by oil and gas leasing in the region. Senator Martin Heinrich, D.N.M., and Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, DN.M., attended the screening along with “agency officials.”

PPT’s inquiry in early January called for all communications about the film between Somah Haaland and seven DOI officials, including her mother, and two BLM officials, including the agency’s director, Tracy Stone-Manning. In the group’s lawsuit on Monday, it said that both the DOI and BLM have still not provided the requested information and likely have no intention of complying with their legal FOIA obligations.

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