Government Watchdog Sues Interior for Haaland’s Meeting Records
- September 30, 2021
Breccan F. Thies, Breitbart News
Government watchdog Protect the Public’s Trust (PTPT) filed a lawsuit Wednesday morning to force the U.S. Department of the Interior to hand over Secretary Deb Haaland’s calendar, meetings, and travel information, per the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
“Political interference may be behind Interior’s roadblocks to releasing information readily available in previous administrations,” the press release from PTPT stated, citing comments from Interior’s communications director, Melissa Schwartz, that “indicate potential interference by political appointees” and a “lack of transparency.”
PTPT’s lawsuit notes that previous administrations have regularly made this information available to the public but that “the American public currently has access only to a skeleton version of Secretary Haaland’s first two weeks, with no information provided for the nearly six months since.”
Departmental leaders’ visitor logs, calendars, and other information are typically made public so as not to give the impression of impropriety and political influence from outside the departments.