A nonprofit group filed a lawsuit against the Justice Department Wednesday seeking records of any communications between President Trump’s transition team and federal investigators about potential investigations into Trump-tied individuals.
“The suit was filed after DOJ refused to reveal whether Trump-Pence transition officials sought information from federal prosecutors regarding politically sensitive investigations being conducted during the transition,” the group Democracy Forward Foundation said in a press release announcing the lawsuit Thursday.
According to the complaint, Democracy Forward filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the DOJ’s Executive Office for United States Attorneys in early June and heard nothing from the DOJ besides an indication a few days later informing the group the DOJ would need a 10-day extension on processing the claim. It’s been two months since the DOJ was due to file some sort of response to the FOIA, Democracy Forward said.
The FOIA request asked for communications between DOJ officials and various members of the Trump transition team. The lawsuit also lays out various press reports suggesting that certain Trump-tied individuals were under federal investigation as well as instances where Trump has reportedly signaled his desire to quash investigations into his allies, including his firing of FBI Director James Comey after asking Comey to lay off of former National Security Advisor Mike Flynn.
“DOJ has refused to respond as required or produce documents in response to Plaintiff’s request concerning, among other things, communications between members of then-President-elect Donald Trump’s Transition team and DOJ that were generated prior to President Trump’s inauguration,” the lawsuit said. “These communications are of critical importance to the public’s understanding of any attempts by then-President-elect Trump’s Transition team to improperly influence law enforcement investigations of individuals with close ties to President Trump that were being conducted at the time the transition began.”
Read the full complaint below:
