The non-profit public interest law firm Judicial Watch reports they filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Energy for \u201crecords about the retroactive termination of former President Donald Trump\u2019s security clearance and\/or access to classified information.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Judicial Watch reports the lawsuit \u201ccites Trump\u2019s January 12, 2024, motion to compel discovery in his criminal prosecution in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, in which the former president asserts that DOE attempted to terminate his security clearance retroactively after his June 2023 indictment by Special Counsel Jack Smith.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt looks like the Department of Energy is trying to manufacture a criminal case,\u201d said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. \u201cWhat are they hiding?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Judicial Watch reports the lawsuit \u201cpoints to the February 2024 response to Trump\u2019s January 2024 motion in which Smith acknowledges the existence of a June 2023 memorandum prepared by an Energy Department official regarding the security clearance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Special Counsel\u2019s office describes the memorandum\u2019s contents and asserts that it had produced the record to Trump,\u201d Judicial Watch reports. \u201cSmith also acknowledges requesting and receiving additional \u2018responsive\u2019 records from DOE, including \u2018approximately 30 pages of records and eight emails.\u2019 Smith asserts that he was \u2018now producing\u2019 the 30 pages to Trump and withholding the eight emails.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTrump\u2019s lawyers suggest in the January 2024 motion to compel discovery that Trump had a high-level security clearance as recently as 2023,\u201d Judicial Watch notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLawyers for Trump say a government document from June 2023 still listed him with a \u201cQ\u201d clearance from the DOE. The document was dated a few weeks after prosecutors indicted Trump in the classified documents case,\u201d Judicial Watch reports. \u201cA \u2018Q\u2019 clearance refers to a type of security clearance handled by the Department of Energy, which holds classified information focused largely on nuclear secrets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Judicial Watch reports it \u201cfiled the lawsuit after the Energy Department failed to comply with a January 18, 2024, FOIA request for its records and communications concerning retroactively terminating Trump\u2019s security clearance and\/or access to classified information.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of Great America News Desk.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The non-profit public interest law firm Judicial Watch reports they filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Energy for \u201crecords about the retroactive termination of former President Donald Trump\u2019s security clearance and\/or access to classified information.\u201d Judicial Watch reports the lawsuit \u201ccites Trump\u2019s January 12, 2024, motion to compel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":3154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247],"tags":[137,514,8,1119,1118],"class_list":["post-6681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion","tag-biden-administration","tag-commentary","tag-donald-trump","tag-freedom-of-information-act","tag-security-clearance"],"yoast_head":"\n