Conservative outfits are scouring feds’ emails
- October 30, 2024
Robin Bravender, E&E News
As former President Donald Trump vows to “shatter the deep state” and make it easier to fire “rogue bureaucrats,” some of his former aides and conservative think tanks have been collecting federal officials’ internal emails.
The expansive records requests — including some that target career civil servants’ communications — are causing concern among government employees and their allies who fear that an incoming Trump administration might try to use the information they obtain to purge career workers from the federal government.
Protect the Public’s Trust is another watchdog group that’s been flooding federal agencies with FOIA requests.
That nonprofit has filed more than 1,600 FOIA requests with nearly 50 agencies, Michael Chamberlain, the group’s director, said in an email. Chamberlain previously served as a communications official at the Department of Education during the Trump administration and led Nevada communications for Trump’s 2016 campaign.
That group has requested records of gifts received by Energy Department officials; records of texts and calls from then-Interior Deputy Secretary Tommy Beaudreau; and communications from an Interior appointee “regarding Israel, Palestine, Hamas, and Gaza.”
Protect the Public’s Trust “doesn’t have an ideological bent,” Chamberlain said in an email.
“Our mission involves educating the public about apparent malfeasance, possible misconduct, and potential conflicts of interest by federal government employees,” Chamberlain said. “We noticed that longstanding organizations that have claimed to be guardians in this space appeared to be uninterested in doing this work from 2021 and beyond, so we set out to fill this void.”