Federal Judge Finds Certain Trump Administration Redactions of Mueller Probe Are Lawful [View all]
Source: Law & Crime
A federal judge sided with the Trump administration on Thursday in a lawsuit challenging the Justice Department’s redactions of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election and obstruction of justice. Senior U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton, who previously read the entire Mueller report as part of a related case probing DOJ redactions, granted the administration’s request for summary judgment. Walton reasoned that DOJ redactions of FBI reports of witness interviews (302s) fell within legal exemptions to the department’s obligations under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
The consolidated lawsuit stemmed from a series of FOIA requests from multiple media outlets including Buzzfeed and CNN. The plaintiffs challenged redactions of memos and 302 reports produced by the FBI relating to any and all of the witnesses interviewed by Mueller’s team.
The DOJ previously produced an annotated version of the Mueller report identifying the specific FOIA exemptions that the agency was relying on in withholding the requested information, mainly citing to 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(5), better known as “Exemption 5.” Exemption 5 is extremely broad and essentially protects against the production of records deemed to be either the product of attorney work or presidential communications records which, if disclosed, may inhibit the candid exchange of views deemed necessary for the government to pursue effective decision-making processes.
Despite previously coming down hard on Attorney General William Barr for having “distorted” the findings of the redacted Mueller report, Judge Walton agreed with the administration on the legality of certain redactions. Walton first addressed the department’s invocation of attorney work product privilege, writing that the information withheld from the 302 reports fell “squarely within the scope of the privilege.”
Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/federal-judge-finds-certain-trump-administration-redactions-of-mueller-report-are-lawful/
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