Group Sues DOJ Seeking White House Communications on Disney/Fox
Saying President Donald Trump may have injected his views into Disney's proposed Fox deal, the nonprofit Protect Democracy Project (PDP) is suing DOJ seeking release of any White House/agency communications on the deal. In a docket 17-cv-506 complaint (in Pacer)…
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filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Washington, PDP said the administration's praise for Disney/Fox contrasts with DOJ attempts to block AT&T/Time Warner and questioned whether that was due to Trump friendliness with Fox News and his antipathy toward TW's CNN. It said it submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to DOJ in December seeking such documentation and hasn't received a response aside from a January letter from Justice's Office of Information Policy acknowledging receipt and indicating a reply will take an unspecified time. Justice didn't comment Tuesday. PDP has a similar suit (in Pacer) pending before the court on July and November FOIA requests it sent DOJ seeking all White House/DOJ communications about AT&T/TW. PDP said DOJ hasn't responded to those requests aside from acknowledging receiving them. Feb. 23, the department said in its docket 17-cv-2409 reply (in Pacer) that PDP isn't entitled to information exempt from FOIA disclosure and that PDP hasn't exhausted administrative remedies. PDP's website describes itself as created by former White House and administration lawyers and focused on legal accountability of the executive branch.