Biden Admin Quietly Nukes Trump-Era ‘Transparency’ Initiative Tracking Settlements And Payouts To Left-Wing Activists
- June 21, 2022
Gabe Kaminsky, Daily Caller
President Joe Biden’s Department of the Interior (DOI) has quietly rolled back a Trump-era “transparency and accountability” order creating a public litigation website so people can track details pertaining to lawsuits from outside interest groups that Republicans argue cost taxpayers unwieldy sums.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland revoked the order, which was issued in September 2018, on Friday. The order made details concerning settlements and consent decrees, as well as cash amounts paid to lawyers of private entities, accessible online.
“There is this potential for abuses whether it’s a Republican or Democratic administration,” Michael Chamberlain, director of the federal watchdog Protect the Public’s Trust, told TheDCNF, describing why he thinks litigation details should be entirely open to the public through a database.
“You have groups suing all the time, about these different policies and fighting on different things,” Chamberlain added. “If the department is able to just act with its allied groups and just roll over and gave them what they want, they’re making an end around the normal channels. They can’t get [policies] through Congress, they can’t get [them] through the regulatory approach, but they can get [them] through the courts, so this way, the potential for abuse is tremendous.”