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NYT: Trump Declines to Release List of His Visitors at Mar-a-Lago

A

Azuran

Banned
The Trump administration on Friday escalated a battle with government ethics groups by declining, even in the face of a federal court order, to release a comprehensive list of individuals visiting with President Trump at his family’s Mar-a-Lago resort during the two dozen days he spent at the private club in Palm Beach, Fla., this year.

The surprising move by the Department of Justice, which had been ordered in July to make the visitors log public, came after weeks of promotion by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the liberal nonprofit group known as CREW, that it would soon be getting the Mar-a-Lago visitors logs.

Instead, on Friday the Justice Department released a State Department list of just 22 names — all of them members of the delegation of the Japanese prime minister — who visited the club in February for a meeting with President Trump.
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But the Department of Justice, in a statement it sent to CREW, said it had decided not to release the names of everyone visiting with the president at Mar-a-Lago.

“The remaining records that the Secret Service has processed in response to the Mar-a-Lago request contain, reflect, or otherwise relate to the president’s schedules,” Chad A. Readler, acting assistant attorney general, wrote in response to CREW in a letter dated Tuesday, but delivered on Friday. “The government believes that presidential schedule information is not subject to FOIA.”

Noah Bookbinder, CREW’s executive director, said that the organization would challenge the Justice Department’s decision. The Obama administration had faced a similar lawsuit before it decided in late 2009 to start to make visitor logs public, a practice that stopped with Mr. Trump’s arrival.

“After waiting months for a response to our request for comprehensive visitor logs from the president’s multiple visits to Mar-a-Lago and having the government ask for a last minute extension, today we received 22 names from the Japanese prime minister’s visit to Mar-a-Lago and nothing else,” Mr. Bookbinder said in a statement. “The government does not believe that they need to release any further Mar-a-Lago visitor records. We vehemently disagree. The government seriously misrepresented their intentions to both us and the court. This was spitting in the eye of transparency. We will be fighting this in court.”
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https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/15/...-at-mar-a-lago.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

Impeach me if old.
 
S

SpiralZilla

Member
The Trump administration on Friday escalated a battle with government ethics groups by declining, even in the face of a federal court order, to release a comprehensive list of individuals visiting with President Trump at his family’s Mar-a-Lago resort during the two dozen days he spent at the private club in Palm Beach, Fla., this year.
Click to expand...
Is there a list of all the laws this administration has broken since the day Trump took office?
 
Duane Cunningham

Duane Cunningham

Member
Hey Trump, Mueller wants you to hear this great band

51vjbQ4I26L.jpg
 
N

Netherscourge

Banned
The NSA probably has a live connection to all the security cameras at all of Trump's properties.

Their "guest list" is probably more accurate than any list Trump would produce.
 
S

Sephzilla

Member
Defying a federal court order... this clearly wont get the attention of a certain someone who's name begins with M and ends with ueller
 
Whompa02

Whompa02

Member
why would he disclose more fuel for the fire? Mueller is already all over his scandalous ass. He'd just be giving poor Mueller more work. :p
 
A

Akuun

Looking for meaning in GAF
It's totally understandable that the Mueller investigation is taking a while (though I understand that these things normally take a long time anyway).

Just getting the people to crunch the sheer amount of paperwork surrounding this shitshow must be filling a few offices.
 
O

Occam

Member
He didn't disclose his tax records, either. Why should he start disclosing things now?

The US presidency has become a joke. From now on, cartoon villains have a good shot at being elected.
 
P

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
I'm going to go ahead and guess these were already "accidentally destroyed."
 
C

cameron

Member
CREW: The government now says they have no "set of records that would reflect Presidential visitors to Mar-a-Lago."

— Kyle Griffin‏ (@kylegriffin1) Oct 5, 2017 ​


CREW STATEMENT ON MAR-A-LAGO RECORDS
Washington, D.C.—Following the government’s filing that they had no “set of records that would reflect Presidential visitors to Mar-a-Lago,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) Executive Director Noah Bookbinder issued the following statement:

“From the outset, the government represented to us and the court that while they would fight the release of White House visitor records, they would produce records of presidential visitors at Mar-a-Lago, and their representations and the length of time they requested sent the clear signal that there would be far more than the 22 names we received. So we were surprised and disappointed that they reneged, now claiming, ‘it was determined that there is no grouping, listing, or set of records that would reflect Presidential visitors to Mar-a-Lago.’ Surely, the Japanese Prime Minister’s delegation is not the only presidential visitors for whom clearance was sought. We will be pressing the court for the full set of records that does exist. If the government’s statement is true, however, and there really are no records documenting the many people President Trump has met with at Mar-a-Lago, the government has just revealed that everyone from lobbyists to foreign agents can buy secret access to the president — without accountability or even a simple record — by paying his personal business. And that is terrifying.”
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Politico: Secret Service: No visitor logs for Mar-a-Lago
There are no visitor logs or other system of tracking those who visited President Donald Trump at his winter retreat known as Mar-a-Lago, a Secret Service official confirmed Wednesday.

Responding to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, Special Agent Kim Campbell said that her agency had a smattering of records regarding some foreign dignitaries and law enforcement officers who met Trump earlier this year during his stays at the Palm Beach resort he owns.
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P

PoorChoices

Member
Wow, it's almost as if it's possible that some shady shit went down and they did not want to document said shady shit going down.
 
J

jelly

Member
How can you get away with it, unbelievable. Are the SS in cahoots or what?

Mueller, get on that please.

I wouldn't be surprised it's all dodgy deals, hookers etc.
 
V

vikki

Member
Can't give them the records when there aren't any records to give them.......... so let's burn all of this.
 
M

ManDudeChild

Member
It amazes me that we can all see what this is, but the rules are effectively protecting this orange dumpster fire. While the rule of law is necessary, its so obvious. Im glad I am not an American, but feel sorry for my American friends.
 
P

platocplx

Member
how would they not have a record of everyone who visits with the president. I mean isnt that at minimum a security risk if they arent keeping track. This is very odd.
 
N

NimbusD

Member
absolutely insane. but also how the fuck did anyone not see shit like this coming. this guy has no respect for public service and never did.
 
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