DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Washington DC 20420 October 31, 2019 In Reply Refer To: 001B FOIA Request: 19-11210-F Austin R. Evers Executive Director American Oversight 1030 15th Street NW, Suite B255 Washington, DC 20005 Foia@americanoversight.org This is the Initial Agency Decision (IAD) from the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Dept. Veterans Affairs (OSVA) to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request received and dated September 4, 2019, and assigned FOIA tracking number 19-11210-F. You requested “All email communications (including emails, email attachments, and calendar invitations) regardless of subject matter sent by (a) any of the employees listed in Column A below to (b) any of the individuals or entities listed in Column B below, including but not limited to at the email addresses and domains specified: Column B: Campaign Committees, Political Action Committees, Consultants, and Column A: Federal Other Outside Organizations Employees  Secretary of  Donald J. Trump for President (@donaldtrump.com, Veterans Affairs @victory.donaldtrump.com, @trump.com, @donaldjtrump.com) Robert Wilkie  Trump Make America Great Again Committee  Former Acting  Trump Victory Secretary Peter  America First Action (@alapac.org, @prochcpas.com, O'Rourke @redprintstrategy.com)  Anyone  America First Policies (@americafirstpolicies.org) communicating on  Republican National Committee (@gop.com, @rnchq.com) behalf of Secretary  Great America Committee (@greatamericacommittee) Wilkie or Acting  Great America PAC (@GreatAmericaPAC.com) Secretary  Great America Alliance (@greatamericaalliance.com)  O'Rourke,  45 Committee (@45committee.com) including executive  Committee to Defend the President (@committeetodefendthepresident.com, assistants, dan@political.law, @dbcapitolstrategies.com) personal  Brad Parscale assistants, or  Parscale Strategies (@parscaledigital.com, @gilesparscale.com, schedulers. @parscale.com)  Chief of Staff  Thomas (Tommy) Hicks Pamela J. Powers  William Stepien (wstepien@aol.com, wstepienl@aol.com)  Any person  Linda McMahon (@wwe.com, @wwecorp.com, @mcmahonventures.com, serving in the @mcm06.com) capacity of White  Nick Ayers Gnayers@gmail.com, na@nickayers.com, nick@targetla.com) House Liaison.  Rob Porter  Assistant  Stefan Passantino (spassantino@michaelbest.com, Secretary for  stefanpassantino@onebox.com) Public and  Hope Hicks Intergovernmental  Tim Murtaugh Affairs James E.  Kayleigh McEnany Hutton  Ronna McDaniel Austin Evers Page 2 October 31, 2019 IAD and Reasonable Searches Dated 9/12/19 & 10/31/19 On September 12, 2019, our search cut-off date, the OSVA FOIA Officer requested that the VA OIT office provide all responsive records, if any, with date timeframe of June 1, 2018, to September 12, 2019 within the email boxes and calendar entries of: 1) Robert Wilkie, 2) Peter O’Rourke, 3) Pam Powers, 4) Casin Spero, and 5) Executive Assistant for both Robert Wilkie and Peter O’Rourke. On September 20, 2019, the VA OIT office provided preliminary search results. On October 31, 2019, the OSVA FOIA Officer conducted a second, follow-up search with date timeframe of June 1, 2018, to September 12, 2019 within the email boxes and calendar entries of: 1) Robert Wilkie, 2) Peter O’Rourke, 3) Pam Powers, 4) Casin Spero, and 5) Executive Assistant for both Robert Wilkie and Peter O’Rourke. The OSVA FOIA Officer looked for any emails or calendar entries to, from, or copying the following email addresses or domains or names: 1) @donaldtrump.com, 2) @victory.donaldtrump.com, 3) @trump.com, 4) @donaldjtrump.com, 5) Trump, 6) @a1apac.org, 7) @prochcpas.com, 8) @redprintstrategy.com, 9)@americafirstpolicies.org, 10) @gop.com, 11) @rnchq.com, 12) @greatamericacommittee.com, 13) @greatamericaPAC.com, 14) @greatamericaalliance.com, 15) @45committee.com, 16) @committeetodefendthepresident.com, 17) dan@political.law, 18) @dbcapitaolstrategies.com, 19) Parscale, 20) @parscaledigital.com, 21) @gilesparscale.com, 22) @parscale.com, 23) Hicks, 24) wstepien@aol.com, 25) wstepien1@aol.com, 26) @wwe.com, 27) @wwecorp.com, 28) @mcmahonventures.com, 29) @mcm06.com, 30) jnayers@gmail.com, 31) na@nickayers.com, 32) nick@targetla.com, 33) Porter, 34) spassantino@michaelbest.com, 35) stefanpassantino@onebox.com, 36) Hope, 37) Murtaugh, 38) McEnany, or 39) McDaniel. Despite these two (2) separate, reasonable searches, the OSVA FOIA Officer found no responsive records. Thus, OSVA issues you a “no records” response. FOIA Mediation As part of the 2007 FOIA amendments, the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) was created to offer mediation services to resolve disputes between FOIA requesters and Federal agencies as a non-exclusive alternative to litigation. Using OGIS services does not affect your right to pursue litigation. Under the provisions of the FOIA Improvement Act of 2016, the following contact information is provided to assist FOIA requesters in resolving disputes: VA Central Office FOIA Public Liaison: Name: John Buck Email Address: vacofoiaservice@va.gov Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) Email Address: ogis@nara.gov Fax: 202-741-5769 Mailing address: National Archives and Records Administration 8601 Adelphi Road College Park, MD 20740-6001 Austin Evers Page 3 October 31, 2019 FOIA Appeal This concludes OSVA’s Initial Agency Decision to request 19-11210-F. Please be advised that should you desire to do so, you may appeal the determination made in this response to: Office of General Counsel (024) Department of Veterans Affairs 810 Vermont Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20420 If you should choose to file an appeal, please include a copy of this letter with your written appeal and clearly indicate the basis for your disagreement with the determination set forth in this response. Please be advised that in accordance with VA’s implementing FOIA regulations at 38 C.F.R. § 1.559, your appeal must be postmarked no later than ninety (90) days of the date of this letter. Sincerely, Richard Ha, JD, CIPP/G OSVA FOIA Officer November 16, 2020 Mr. Hart Wood DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Washington DC 20420 1 030 15th Street, NW Washington, DC 20005 Dear Mr. Wood: This is in response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). On August 30, 2019, you asked for "all email communications (including emails, email attachments, and calendar invitations) regardless of subject matter sent by (a) any of the employees listed in Column A below to (b) any of the individuals or entities listed in Column B below, including but not limited to at the email addresses and domains specified: within the request for Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs James E. Hutton." In conducting our search, the Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs found no records regarding FOIA 19-11264-F. This concludes our office response to your request. In accordance with 43 CFR 2.28 (a) (1 ), you may appeal this response by writing to: General Counsel (024) Department of Veterans Affairs 810 Vermont Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20420 If you should choose to file an appeal, please include a copy of this letter with your written appeal and clearly indicate the basis for your disagreement with the determination set forth in this response. Please be advised that in accordance with VA's implementing FOIA regulation as 38 C.F.R. § 1.559, your appeal must be post marked no later than 60 days from the date of this letter. We appreciate your interest in the Department of Veterans Affairs. If you have further questions. please feel free to contact Anita Major at (202) 461-7440. Sincerely, - \ � �Jlr- r s �don s."J�son .­ Chief of Staff Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs