Following a lawsuit by government watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the Obama administration released their visitor logs (dating back to 2009), but the Trump White House announced in April that they would break with the practice.
However, as The Hill reports, CREW on Monday announced that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will turn over visitor logs to Trump’s property by Sept. 8 as part of ongoing litigation to the group, who in turn will make them public.
Official CREW Statement
As part of ongoing litigation brought by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), the National Security Archive (NSA) and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will turn over visitor logs for President Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence. CREW will publicly release the visitor logs upon receiving them by September 8th.
"The public deserves to know who is coming to meet with the president and his staff," CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder said.
"We are glad that as a result of this case, this information will become public for meetings at his his personal residences—but it needs to be public for meetings at the White House as well."
CREW, NSA and Knight sued for the release of visitor logs from the White House, Mar-a-Lago and Trump Tower. DHS claims to have no records of visitors at Trump Tower. The lawsuit is ongoing for the White House.
The Obama administration began releasing White House visitor logs in September 2009 to settle four lawsuits brought by CREW.
As The Hill notes, Senate Democrats earlier this year proposed the "Make Access Records Available to Lead American Government Openness Act" or MAR-A-LAGO Act to force Trump to release visitor logs to the White House or other locations where he conducts official business. The Florida residence is a popular weekend destination for the president, with Trump even hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping there.
We can't wait for the media to scour this list for anyone with a Russian-sounding name!
via http://ift.tt/2tydiGG Tyler Durden