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A new report from @doioig will raise fresh questions about whether @Interior Solicitor @DOIJorjani lied to @RonWyden about his role in the agency's controversial FOIA "awareness review" process during his confirmation hearing last May. But there's more.. https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/511342-watchdog-report-raises-new-questions-for-top-interior-lawyer
Jorjani was put in charge of @Interior's FOIA program
shortly after former Secretary Zinke was accused of misusing public funds. In documents obtained--ironically--via #FOIA, Jorjani wrote "At the end of the day...our job is to protect the Secretary." https://www.huffpost.com/entry/daniel-jorjani-interior-department-protect-ryan-zinke_n_5aecdf87e4b0ab5c3d65a8a4
shortly after former Secretary Zinke was accused of misusing public funds. In documents obtained--ironically--via #FOIA, Jorjani wrote "At the end of the day...our job is to protect the Secretary." https://www.huffpost.com/entry/daniel-jorjani-interior-department-protect-ryan-zinke_n_5aecdf87e4b0ab5c3d65a8a4
Citing a #FOIA backlog, Jorjani crafted a proposed rule for processing records requests that would have severely restricted public access to information by allowing the agency to deny requests that it deemed "burdensome" or "vague" without actually defining either term...
...and the proposed rule was submitted to the Federal Register during the 2018-19 government shutdown. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2018/12/28/2018-27561/freedom-of-information-act-regulations
A bipartisan group of congressional leaders sent a letter to then-Acting @SecBernhardt urging him to reconsider the proposed rule “in the spirit of transparency and advancing the public’s right to know.” The final rule scrapped many of the changes. https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/467482-interior-removes-criticized-language-from-final-foia-rule
Simultaneously, @Interior was also implementing a new “awareness policy” for #FOIAs, requiring career staff to notify political appointees if their names or emails appeared in documents designated to be released, but the policy actually went further... https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/23/climate/interior-department-freedom-of-information.html
...Watchdog groups like @Western_Values and @Accountable_Org discovered that not only were political appointees being allowed to review #FOIA'd documents before they went out, but these officials were allowed to withhold or delay the release of documents. https://campaignforaccountability.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/IG-Complaint-Interior-FOIA-Awareness-6-17-19-Exhibits.pdf
When @DOIJorjani was asked about his role in this "awareness review" in May 2019, he told @RonWyden that he “typically did not review records prior to their release under the FOIA.” Turns out that's not quite true... https://www.huffpost.com/entry/danial-jorjani-nomination-ron-wyden-doj-investigation-request_n_5d410b45e4b0d24cde0799a1
Documents released by @Earthjustice in July 2019 indicate Jorjani was not only aware of the so-called “awareness review” policy at Interior, but often involved in examining documents before they went out. https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2019/environmental-groups-release-thousands-of-interior-department-emails-documenting-unlawful-changes-to-basic
Sure enough, when @doioig investigators asked him again, Jorjani changed his story. According to @thehill "he takes more responsibility for withholding the documents in the report. " https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/511342-watchdog-report-raises-new-questions-for-top-interior-lawyer
Following today's news of the @doioig findings, @RonWyden and @RepRaulGrijalva called on @TheJusticeDept to open a criminal investigation into whether or not Jorjani perjured himself before Congress. https://naturalresources.house.gov/media/press-releases/wyden-and-grijalva-on-new-interior-inspector-general-report-officials-orchestrated-a-cover-up-to-protect-secretary-bernhardt-during-his-confirmation
PS: @Interior's political "awareness review" process impacts more than just watchdogs: @Western_Values found that #FOIAs submitted by numerous media outlets, including @washingtonpost, @AP, @politico, and @thehill were also subjected to awareness reviews. https://westernvaluesproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/WVP-Analysis-Political-Awareness-Review-Affected-Media-Watchdog-FOIA-Requests.pdf
