2025 FOIA Files Recap: It's been a devastating year for the #FOIA. Agencies gutted or eviscerated their FOIA offices & fired staff. But thanks to the incredibly hard work of FOIA officers across the govt I managed to pry loose some important docs. Here are the highlights. Thank you FOIA officers! 🧵

The Story Behind FCC Chairman Brendan Carr’s Role in Project 2025 Emails reveal how Brendan Carr, the FCC’s Republican chairman and close confidante of Trump, was cleared by ethics officials to write a chapter in the 922-page manifesto when he was a commissioner. www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

What Happened When the Trump Administration Ordered a CDC Blackout Documents obtained by FOIA Files reveal the chaotic turn of events at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention after the Trump admin ordered the agency to stop communicating with the public www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Trump Filed a FOIA Request. We FOIAed His FOIA. When the then-former president was under investigation for unlawfully retaining classified docs, he filed a FOIA request with NARA about his case. It wasn’t the first time Trump wielded the public records tool www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

How the SEC Responded to Trump’s Inspectors General Purge Newly released emails obtained by FOIA Files reveal the number of inspectors general fired by Trump and how the securities regulator’s watchdog prepared for the possibility she would be next www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Trump’s Special Envoy Richard Grenell Was Once Subject of Leak Probe Grenell was investigated by the State Dept’s IG in 2020 over the unauthorized disclosure of a “sensitive but unclassified” cable. Exactly the type of leak the Trump admin has cracked down on www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Here Are the Job Titles and Salary Ranges of Some DOGE Staffers A list released to FOIA Files by OPM gives color on the individuals executing DOGE priorities. Among other things it reveals their salary ranges, job titles and official govt www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Document Shows How FBI Handled Background Checks for Trump Appointees An MOU reveals the procedures for conducting background investigations for “high-level national security positions.” www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

How the Air Force Designated Its Next Fighter Jet ‘F-47’ The Air Force may have been caught off guard or was just unprepared when President Donald Trump said the next generation fighter jet would be called F-47, documents obtained by FOIA Files suggest www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

My personal favorite: DOJ Finally Reveals Sale Price for Seized Wu-Tang Clan Album When the Justice Department sold Once Upon a Time in Shaolin it concealed the sale price citing “trade secrets.” Now, after a four year FOIA battle, DOJ finally disclosed the price www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Trump Ordered a Mountain Name Change. It Could Be an Uphill Battle. Documents obtained by FOIA Files reveal that the tedious work required to fully implement President Donald Trump’s executive order could surpass his time in office www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

What the USDA Spent on the Huge Trump and Lincoln Banners Documents obtained by FOIA Files show the banners were printed by Timsco Graphics, a Maryland company. The purchase order says they were procured by the USDA ‘in conjunction with the Secretary's priority.’ www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Documents Reveal a Deluge of Threats Directed at FEMA A pair of deadly hurricanes last year in Florida and North Carolina sparked an influx of online conspiracies, threats against federal emergency management workers and doxxing of govt officials, FOIA docs show www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

How An Intel Agency Handled ‘Damage’ Review in Trump’s Classified Records Case Emails reveal ODNI tried to avoid conducting a full blown damage assessment of the hundreds of classified documents retained by then-former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Anti-Drug Unit Officially Shut Down by DOJ The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces responsibilities, including 5,000 existing case, have been transferred to a new set of task forces under the Department of Homeland Security www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

‘This is Not a Drill.’ How the Peace Corps Prepared for a DOGE Visit The agency spent two months running through training exercises leading up to DOGE’s arrival in April www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

And finally... Inside the FBI’s Review and Redaction of Epstein Files The communications released to FOIA Files provide a look behind the scenes as agents and other FBI personnel started to work on the Epstein files earlier this year www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...