The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee is pressing Chairman Trey Gowdy to subpoena EPA and force the agency to release information about how Scott Pruitt’s aides scrutinized politically sensitive documents before releasing them.
That demand comes after POLITICO reported in May that that political appointees screened releases related to Pruitt as the agency struggled to keep up with a surge of document requests that led to a massive spike in transparency lawsuits.
Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the committee’s ranking member, said in a letter to Gowdy there was enough evidence that former EPA chief’s political aides clamped down on politically sensitive public records requests and delayed the release of others to justify a subpoena for agency records.
Cummings wrote that a subpoena should seek a host of documents related to the agency’s Freedom of Information Act processes, which he said was justified by EPA chief of staff Ryan Jackson’s admission to congressional investigators that political appointees at the agency sometimes reviewed public records requests prior to release. Those deemed “politically charged” followed a separate process, according to excerpts of his interview released by congressional Democrats.
“During a Committee hearing in 2011, you criticized an official from the Department of Homeland Security for having political appointees review FOIA responses,” Cummings wrote. “I ask that you show that same concern for the way this Administration is implementing FOIA.”
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