Watchdog Groups Sue For Release Of White House, Mar-a-Lago Visitor Logs

MANHATTAN, NY — Three watchdog groups filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security Monday under the Freedom of Information Act demanding the the release of the White House's visitor logs, which have been kept secret since the start of President Trump's term. It also asks for similar logs for Mar-a-Lago, where the president spends most of his weekends.

The National Security Archive, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University are among plaintiffs to the lawsuit. Rather than targeting the White House, which does not have to comply with FOIA requests, the plaintiffs are targeting the Secret Service as a part of DHS, which is subject to freedom of information requests.

Under the Obama administration, White House visitor logs were released to the press on a regular basis. As the Washington Post noted, these releases sometimes yielded newsworthy stories, such as a report on the number of lobbyists visiting the building. In a statement about his policy, President Obama said in 2009, "Americans have a right to know whose voices are being heard in the policymaking process."

Rep. Devin Nunes, a California Republican and chair of the House Intelligence Committee, drew attention to the White House visitor logs after he said a source told him that the Obama administration had surveilled certain Trump transition team members incidentally, claims he later walked back. When it was revealed that Nunes went to the White House the night before this announcement, questions arose about whom he met with, where he got the information and why.

Nunes since recused himself from the House's investigation into Trump's claims of wiretapping and Russian interference into the 2016 election, but questions about his sources, his White House visit and the visitor log persist.

As the lawsuit notes, a group of Democratic senators signed a letter asking for the release of the records, asking for Trump to retain Obama's policy of visitor transparency.

"It would be a significant setback to efforts to give the public insight into who influences the White House if this policy were to be discontinued or limited," the senators wrote in a letter to the Secret Service. "Indeed, given the unique aspects of how President Trump has decided to conduct official business, we believe he needs to do even more just to meet the benchmark of transparency set by President Obama."

The White House told Patch that this issue is under review.

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