We Caught the Deep State Handing Over Documents to the Left While Stonewalling the ACLJ – Lawsuit Filed

We’ve been warning you about Deep State corruption and how Washington puts its thumb on the scale against conservatives.

Now we have proof.

When our own ACLJ Senior Advisor for National Security and Foreign Policy, Ric Grenell, left office as acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI), BuzzFeed News, an openly leftist mainstream media outlet, submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for ALL of his emails. In a surprisingly fast response that did not require a lawsuit, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) handed over every single document with minimal redactions.

No fuss, no radio silence, no delay, and no lawsuit, just a determination within 20 days (which is what FOIA requires) and then, voilà, the documents – for the Left.

So your ACLJ submitted a FOIA request for all of Biden’s DNI Avril Haines’ emails, and the ODNI has completely ignored us. It was essentially the same request, but our request received a very different response.

Our FOIA request, sent over two years ago, requested all of Director Avril Haines’ unclassified emails, as well as information and records regarding the Director of National Intelligence’s decision to release former Acting Director Ric Grenell’s unclassified emails.

It’s now been over two years . . . of complete radio silence.

That’s why today we filed a major lawsuit against the ODNI – a case that could help us leverage the Biden Administration to come clean in all our other FOIA requests or cases. It’s that big.

The ACLJ has filed a complaint under the FOIA that asks the court to order the ODNI to disclose and release the requested records.

Not only is the withholding of records illicit, but the failure to respond to the ACLJ’s requests at all, much less in a timely manner as required by statute, is also unlawful. The ODNI was required to acknowledge the ACLJ’s FOIA request and then say whether there were any records to produce to the ACLJ within 20 days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays). It did neither.

But here’s the new twist.

Our lawsuit goes a step further than seeking the requested records. It also seeks relief under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution for the ODNI’s selective disclosure and delay of records based on the requestor. Left-wing media got the records; conservative ACLJ got ignored – a different response based on the requester’s viewpoint.

This is a new area of First Amendment law. We are not aware of any case alleging a First Amendment violation against a federal agency for ignoring or failing to respond to FOIA requests. However, recent federal court precedent supports our claim. A recent case in federal district court in Washington, D.C., did entertain this type of claim against the D.C. government (a unique federal entity). We are taking that approach and applying it, for the first time, against a federal agency.

The First Amendment prohibits the government from discriminating based on the viewpoint of the individual or group. In this case, while the ODNI has been ignoring the requests of the ACLJ for over two years, it responded to a Leftist BuzzFeed News reporter and, relatively quickly, released agency records. When we asked for similar records, it ignored us. This mistreatment by the agency violates the First Amendment based on our viewpoint and the content of our request and protected speech.

The ACLJ is also open about its viewpoints; but unfortunately, since they do not line up with those of the ODNI, BuzzFeed News, and the Deep State, we are denied our legal right to the records. The ODNI has simply not conformed its conduct to the requirements of the law or the Constitution, and now it must do so.

That’s what this case is all about. We will force the Deep State to follow the Constitution and federal law in court. We’ve been doing it for years, and this case could have a tremendous impact on our entire FOIA practice and your ability to get to the truth quickly.