Politico: National Archives can’t resurrect Trump’s tweets, Twitter says. “Twitter will not allow the National Archives to make former President Donald Trump’s past tweets from his @realDonaldTrump account available on the social media platform, the company told POLITICO on Wednesday, in the latest display of Silicon Valley’s power over communications channels used by the U.S. government.”
Houston Chronicle: Texas AG Ken Paxton refuses to release texts, emails sent during pro-Trump rally and Capitol riot. “The Texas attorney general’s office is attempting to withhold all messages Ken Paxton sent or received while in Washington for the pro-Donald Trump rally that devolved into a riot at the U.S. Capitol. Several news organizations in Texas have requested copies of the attorney general’s work-related communications. The Texas Public Information Act guarantees the public’s right to government records — even if those records are stored on personal devices or online accounts of public officials.”
GovExec: New Bill Would Increase Transparency of Presidential Records. “Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, will introduce the ‘Presidential Records Preservation Act,’ which would update the ‘1978 Presidential Records Act’ by requiring the president, vice president, and other senior White House officials to ‘make and preserve records’ that document the president’s official activities. The ‘Federal Records Act,’ which oversees record keeping in the executive and legislative agencies, the judiciary and a few executive offices, has a similar provision.”
National Security Archive: “Still Interested” Letters Add Insult to Injury of Long-Ignored FOIA Requests. “The National Security Archive’s 2021 Sunshine Week Audit has found that many agencies still abuse ‘still interested’ letters – out of the 84 ‘still interested’ letters we received between November 2019 and the present, 17 provided fewer than 30 days to respond. Put another way, more than one in five, or 20 percent, of all ‘still interested’ letters the Archive received in the last year and a half did not follow OIP guidance.” I didn’t know much about “still interested” letters, but MuckRock
Citizens for Ethics: Judge stops ICE from destroying records of abuse. “ICE cannot destroy records of sexual abuse and assault, death reviews, detainee segregation files and other records it planned to dispose of, a federal judge ordered today in a case brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, American Historical Association and the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations.”
AP: Governments delay access to public records during pandemic. “As states prepared to reopen their economies following coronavirus shutdowns last spring, The Associated Press asked governors across the U.S. for records that could shed light on how businesses and health officials influenced their decisions. Nine months later, after several more COVID-19 surges and shutdowns, the AP still has not received records from about 20 states. Some outright denied the requests or sought payments the AP declined to make. Others have not responded, or said they still need more time.”
Las Vegas Review-Journal: Legislation seeks to curb public’s access to governmental records. “Like clockwork, with a new legislative session comes a new slate of bills that look to tip the scales of government accountability away from transparency and toward secrecy. The 2021 Nevada Legislature is no different, with state and local agencies pushing for bills that would curtail the public’s access to governmental records and workings across the state.”
Politico: Groups press Biden to commit to transparency. “When President Joe Biden was sworn in last month, he signed 17 executive orders and other directives. None was focused on transparency. Now, a coalition of advocates for more access to government information and deliberations are urging Biden to make such openness a higher priority and to reverse what they contend was a deterioration in public access to the inner workings of government under former President Donald Trump.”
National Security Archives: Lawsuit Saves Trump White House Records. “The National Security Archive et. al. v. Donald J. Trump et. al. lawsuit, filed December 1, 2020 to prevent a possible bonfire of records in the Rose Garden, achieved a formal litigation hold on White House records that lasted all the way through the transition and Inauguration Day, the preservation of controversial WhatsApp messages, and a formal change in White House records policy.”
NextGov: How NARA’s Preserving More Than 20 Terabytes of Trump Social Media Data. “America’s federal records-keeper is in the midst of a hefty, ongoing effort to preserve many terabytes of digital and social media records from former President Donald Trump, who was suspended from using multiple online platforms in his final days in office. To do so, the National Archives and Records Administration is leveraging a technology-based solution called ArchiveSocial.”
Dublin People: National Archives launches 1990 Government files exhibition. “Minister for Culture Catherine Martin TD, today announced the launch of the National Archives online exhibition of 1990 Government files which was recently released under the 30-Year Rule…. Notable events which are included in the exhibition is Nelson Mandela visiting Ireland after his release from prison, Ireland holding the EU Presidency , German Re-unification and the early beginnings of the Northern Ireland peace process.”
NARA: National Archives Launches Trump Presidential Library Website. “The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) today launched the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library website, which provides information on archived White House websites and social media accounts, as well as information on access to the records of the Trump Administration. Under the Presidential Records Act, the National Archives receives all records of the Trump Administration, which will be preserved in NARA facilities in the Washington, DC, area, and access to those records will be provided through the Donald J. Trump Presidential Library, controlled and administered by the National Archives.”
WABE: Thousands Of Documents Go Online Detailing Daily Activities Of The Carter Administration. “Two collections of documents from the presidential administration of Jimmy Carter are now digitized and online for public viewing and research. Sheila McAlister, director of the Digital Library of Georgia, says it’s important to make the documents accessible to everyone with an internet connection, especially with the ongoing pandemic.”
National Security Archive: Archive, Historians, CREW Sue White House, Seek to Preserve Presidential Records During the Transition. “The lawsuit cites the inadequacy of current White House policies that only require a screenshot of instant messages to be saved, preserving only the graphic content, when the law (as amended in 2014) requires ‘a complete copy’ to be preserved, including digital links and attachments.”
CityBeat: Court Hands Journalists a Big Freedom of Information Act Win: Gun Data Access. “Reveal, the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIR), originally sued for records in November 2017. The Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) never responded. ATF’s gun tracing database lists 6.8 million firearms linked to criminal activity. Reveal sought records for any gun traced back to law enforcement ownership. When Congress passed the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in 1966, modern databases did not exist. ATF argued that a search query exporting the results amounted to a ‘new’ record, which agencies aren’t required to disclose under the FOIA statute. The court disagreed.”
