July 24, 2017 FOIA Compliance Office Commodity Futures Trading Commission Three Lafayette Centre 1155 21st Street NW Washington, DC 20581 FOIAsubmissions@cftc.gov Council on Environmental Quality Freedom of Information Officer 722 Jackson Place NW Washington, DC 20503 efoia@ceq.eop.gov Alexis Graves U.S. Department of Agriculture 1400 Independence Avenue SW Room 428-W, Whitten Building Washington, DC 20250-0706 USDAFOIA@ocio.usda.gov Michael Toland, Ph.D. Departmental FOIA Officer Office of Privacy and Open Government U.S. Department of Commerce 14th and Constitution Avenue NW Mail Stop 52010FB Washington, D.C. 20230 Via FOIAOnline OSD/JS FOIA Requester Service Center Chief, Ms. Stephanie Carr Office of Freedom of Information U.S. Department of Defense 1155 Defense Pentagon Washington, DC 20301-1155 Via Online Portal U.S. Department of Education ATTN: FOIA Public Liaison Office of Management Office of the Chief Privacy Officer 400 Maryland Avenue SW, LBJ 2E320 Washington, DC 20202-4536 EDFOIAManager@ed.gov FOIA Requester Service Center U.S. Department of Energy 1000 Independence Avenue SW Mail Stop MA-46 Washington, DC 20585 Via Facsimile: (202) 586-0575 Records, FOIA, and Privacy Branch Office of Environmental Information U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW (2822T) Washington, DC 20460 hq.foia@epa.gov U.S. General Services Administration FOIA Requester Service Center (H1F) 1800 F Street NW, Room 7308 Washington, DC 20405-0001 Via FOIAOnline Michael Marquis Freedom of Information Officer Department of Health and Human Services Hubert H. Humphrey Building, Room 729H 200 Independence Avenue SW Washington, DC 20201 FOIARequest@hhs.gov 1030 15th Street NW, Suite B255, Washington, DC 20005 AmericanOversight.org The Privacy Office U.S. Department of Homeland Security 245 Murray Lane SW STOP-0655 Washington, D.C. 20528-0655 foia@hq.dhs.gov FOIA Request Department of the Treasury Washington, DC 20220 Via Facsimile: (202) 622-3895 U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs 810 Vermont Avenue NW (005R1C) VACO Washington, DC 20420 vacofoiaservice@va.gov Freedom of Information Act Office U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 451 7th Street SW, Room 10139 Washington, DC 20410-3000 Via Online Portal FOIA Officer Office of Management and Budget 1800 G Street NW Washington, DC 20503 OMBFOIA@omb.eop.gov Clarice Julka Office of the Secretary U.S. Department of the Interior MS-7328, MIB 1849 C Street, NW Washington, DC 20240 os_foia@ios.doi.gov FOIA Officer Office of Science and Technology Policy 1650 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20504 ostpfoia@ostp.eop.gov FOIA/PA Mail Referral Unit U.S. Department of Justice Room 115 LOC Building Washington, DC 20530-0001 MRUFOIA.Requests@usdoj.gov USTR FOIA Office, GSD/RDF Attn: Chief FOIA Officer, Janice Kaye Office of the U.S. Trade Representative Anacostia Naval Annex, Bldg. 410/Door 123, 250 Murray Lane SW Washington, DC 20509 FOIA@ustr.eop.gov Office of the Solicitor Division of Management and Administrative Legal Services U.S. Department of Labor 200 Constitution Avenue NW Room N-2420 Washington, DC 20210 foiarequests@dol.gov Office of FOIA Services Securities and Exchange Commission 100 F Street NE Washington, DC 20549-2736 Via Online form Chief, FOIA/Privacy Act Office U.S. Small Business Administration 409 3rd Street SW, 8th Floor Washington, DC 20416 Via FOIAOnline Kathy Ray U.S. Department of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE W94-122 Washington, DC 20590 ost.foia@dot.gov 2 MULTI-17-0252-0274 Re: Freedom of Information Act Request Dear Freedom of Information Officers: Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552 et seq., and your agency’s implementing regulations, American Oversight makes the following request for records. The records requested herein may reside in multiple components or offices within your agency. We ask that you coordinate this request across your agency in your role as the agency’s FOIA contact. President Donald Trump has not eliminated his financial ties to the Trump Organization, a subject of significant media interest. Consequently taxpayer dollars are being spent at Trump properties with the financial benefit of those public dollars inuring to Mr. Trump’s benefit. American Oversight makes this request for records to shed light on whether and to what extent agencies are avoiding or encouraging the use of Trump Properties. 1 2 Requested Records American Oversight requests that your agency produce the following within twenty business days: 3 1. All guidance regarding using properties owned by the Trump Organization for government-sponsored conferences or meetings. 2. All emails regarding using properties owned by the Trump Organization for government-sponsored conferences or meetings. 3. All guidance regarding attending conferences or meetings at properties owned by the Trump Organization. 4. All emails regarding attending conferences or meetings at properties owned by the Trump Organization. Dan Alexander et al., Trump Refuses to Divest Assets, Passes Control to His Sons, FORBES (Jan. 11, 2017, 11:41 AM), https://www.forbes.com/sites/chasewithorn/2017/01/11/donald-trumpwill-hand-over-business/#3c8651a760d7; Susanne Craig & Eric Lipton, Trust Records Show Trump Is Still Closely Tied to His Empire, N.Y. TIMES, Feb. 3, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/03/us/politics/donald-trump-business.html. See Amy Brittain, State Department Spent More than $15,000 for Rooms at New Trump Hotel in Vancouver, WASH. POST, July 12, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/statedepartment-spent-more-than-15000-for-rooms-at-new-trump-hotel-invancouver/2017/07/12/5eba5d0c-61bf-11e7-84a1a26b75ad39fe_story.html?utm_term=.3f7a0713839f. Trump Organization properties include but are not limited to Mar-a-Lago, Trump International Hotel Washington, DC, Trump Tower New York, Trump National Golf Club Bedminster, and Trump National Golf Club Washington, DC. 1 2 3 3 MULTI-17-0252-0274 5. All guidance regarding reimbursement for meals, overnight stays, or other expenses incurred at properties owned by the Trump Organization. 6. All emails regarding reimbursement for meals, overnight stays, or other expenses incurred at properties owned by the Trump Organization. 7. Records sufficient to demonstrate total costs reimbursed or paid directly by the agency for visits to any property owned by the Trump Organization. Reimbursements include payments for the cost of individual airfare of government employees and their spouses, costs for government transportation, conference fees, rental fees, lodging, meals, rental vehicles, overtime payments, and any other reimbursable expenses. The search for responsive records should include all individuals and locations where records are likely to exist, including the immediate office of the agency head, the designated agency ethics official, and all agency offices involved in making travel arrangements or receiving, approving, paying, reimbursing, or auditing travel expenses. Please provide all responsive records from January 20, 2017, to the date the search is conducted. Under the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016, agencies must adopt a presumption of disclosure, withholding information “only if . . . disclosure would harm an interest protected by an exemption” or “disclosure is prohibited by law.” If it is your position that any portion of the requested records is exempt from disclosure, American Oversight requests that you provide an index of those documents as required under Vaughn v. Rosen, 484 F.2d 820 (D.C. Cir. 1973), cert. denied, 415 U.S. 977 (1974). As you are aware, a Vaughn index must describe each document claimed as exempt with sufficient specificity “to permit a reasoned judgment as to whether the material is actually exempt under FOIA.” Moreover, the Vaughn index “must describe each document or portion thereof withheld, and for each withholding it must discuss the consequences of disclosing the sought-after information.” Further, “the withholding agency must supply ‘a relatively detailed justification, specifically identifying the reasons why a particular exemption is relevant and correlating those claims with the particular part of a withheld document to which they apply.’” 4 5 6 7 In the event some portions of the requested records are properly exempt from disclosure, please disclose any reasonably segregable non-exempt portions of the requested records. If it is your position that a document contains non-exempt segments, but that those non-exempt segments are so dispersed throughout the document as to make segregation impossible, please state what FOIA Improvement Act of 2016 § 2 (Pub. L. No. 114–185). Founding Church of Scientology v. Bell, 603 F.2d 945, 949 (D.C. Cir. 1979). King v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 830 F.2d 210, 223—24 (D.C. Cir. 1987) (emphasis in original). Id. at 224 (citing Mead Data Central, Inc. v. U.S. Dep’t of the Air Force, 566 F.2d 242, 251 (D.C. Cir. 1977)). 4 5 6 7 4 MULTI-17-0252-0274 portion of the document is non-exempt, and how the material is dispersed throughout the document. Claims of nonsegregability must be made with the same degree of detail as required for claims of exemptions in a Vaughn index. If a request is denied in whole, please state specifically that it is not reasonable to segregate portions of the record for release. 8 You should institute a preservation hold on information responsive to this request. American Oversight intends to pursue all legal avenues to enforce its right of access under FOIA, including litigation if necessary. Accordingly, you are on notice that litigation is reasonably foreseeable. To ensure that this request is properly construed, that searches are conducted in an adequate but efficient manner, and that extraneous costs are not incurred, American Oversight welcomes an opportunity to discuss its request with you before you undertake your search or incur search or duplication costs. By working together at the outset, American Oversight hopes to decrease the likelihood of costly and time-consuming litigation in the future. Where possible, please provide responsive material in electronic format by email or in PDF or TIF format on a USB drive. Please send any responsive material being sent by mail to American Oversight, 1030 15 Street NW, Suite B255, Washington, DC 20005. If it will accelerate release of responsive records to American Oversight, please also provide responsive material on rolling basis. th Fee Waiver Request In accordance with 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(4)(A)(iii) and your agency’s implementing regulations, American Oversight requests a waiver of fees associated with processing this request for records. The subject of this request concerns the operations of the federal government, and the disclosures will likely contribute to public understanding of those operations. Moreover, the request is primarily and fundamentally for non-commercial purposes. American Oversight requests a waiver of fees because disclosure of the requested information is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of government operations or activities. Mr. Trump continues to benefit financially from the Trump Organization, including its for-profit clubs and hotels, and the public would benefit from knowing whether, how, and to what extent tax dollars are being used to enrich the president. The subject of this request concerns the operations or activities of the government. American Oversight seeks agency records regarding how the agency selects venues for conferences and meetings, selects lodging accommodations for employees on official travel, and develops protocols for reimbursement. The disclosure of these records is likely to contribute to an understanding of government operations or activities. American Oversight seeks agency records regarding how the agency is encouraging or discouraging the expenditure of public dollars at Trump properties. Disclosure of the requested information will contribute to public understanding. As discussed below American Oversight has both the ability and the intention to effectively convey the 9 Mead Data Central, 566 F.2d at 261. Dan Alexander et al., supra note 1; Craig & Lipton, supra note 1. 8 9 5 MULTI-17-0252-0274 information it receives to the public. American Oversight does not have a commercial interest in the requested information. Disclosure of the requested information will contribute significantly to public understanding of government operations or activities. The use of taxpayer dollars to financially benefit the president personally is of serious concern. The requested records will shed light on how the fact of the president’s financial interest in certain meeting venues and lodging accommodations affects how agencies spend tax dollars. This request is primarily and fundamentally for non-commercial purposes. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, American Oversight does not have a commercial purpose and the release of the information requested is not in American Oversight’s financial interest. American Oversight’s mission is to promote transparency in government, to educate the public about government activities, and to ensure the accountability of government officials. American Oversight uses the information gathered, and its analysis of it, to educate the public through reports, press releases, or other media. American Oversight also makes materials it gathers available on its public website and promotes their availability on social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter. American Oversight has demonstrated its commitment to the public disclosure of documents and creation of editorial content. For example, after receiving records regarding an ethics waiver received by a senior DOJ attorney, American Oversight promptly posted the records to its website and published an analysis of what the records reflected about DOJ’s process for ethics waivers. As another example, American Oversight has a project called “Audit the Wall,” where the organization is gathering and analyzing information and commenting on public releases of information related to the administration’s proposed construction of a barrier along the U.S.Mexico border. 10 11 12 13 Accordingly, American Oversight qualifies for a fee waiver. Conclusion We share a common mission to promote transparency in government. American Oversight looks forward to working with your agency on this request. If you do not understand any part of this request, have any questions, or foresee any problems in fully releasing the requested records, please contact Cerissa Cafasso at foia@americanoversight.org or (202) 869-5246. Also, if American American Oversight currently has approximately 11,100 page likes on Facebook, and 33,400 followers on Twitter. American Oversight, FACEBOOK, https://www.facebook.com/weareoversight/ (last visited July 20, 2017); American Oversight (@weareoversight), TWITTER, https://twitter.com/weareoversight (last visited July 20, 2017). Vetting the Nominees: Solicitor General Nominee Noel Francisco, AMERICAN OVERSIGHT, https://www.americanoversight.org/our-actions/vetting-nominees-solicitor-general-nominee-noelfrancisco. Francisco & the Travel Ban: What We Learned from the DOJ Documents, AMERICAN OVERSIGHT, https://www.americanoversight.org/news/francisco-travel-ban-learned-doj-documents. Audit the Wall, AMERICAN OVERSIGHT, www.auditthewall.org. 10 11 12 13 6 MULTI-17-0252-0274 Oversight’s request for a fee waiver is not granted in full, please contact us immediately upon making such a determination. Sincerely, Austin R. Evers Executive Director American Oversight 7 MULTI-17-0252-0274