(RoyalPatriot.com )- According to Biden administration officials, there is “no obvious public interest” in unmasking the identity of six taxpayer-funded workers who worked for former President Donald Trump or Vice President Mike Pence after they left office.
According to a petition filed by Department of Justice lawyers, including US Attorney Matthew Graves, who President Joe Biden appointed, releasing the identities of Trump and Pence workers would constitute a manifestly unreasonable violation of their privacy.
Insider filed a Freedom of Information Act complaint against the US General Services Administration in October 2021, alleging that the agency violated federal law by failing to give a detailed accounting of Trump and Pence’s post-presidency workers.
Lawyers from the Department of Justice wrote a letter saying that the anonymous people who work for Trump or Pence “appears to be low-level,” according to Department of Justice attorneys, who did not identify names. Furthermore, they claim that the persons in question are not well-known to the general public, and revealing their identities would almost certainly result in unwelcome intrusions and public attention.
They also pointed out that the General Services Administration published some names of Trump and Pence’s post-presidential transition team members last year, then provided more when Insider filed a lawsuit.
Insider said in its complaint that the General Services Administration withheld requested information erroneously and unlawfully.
Darren Samuelsohn, the Washington Bureau head for the newsgroup, said Insider would battle for as long as it takes to get this information.
The public, Samuelsohn continued, has a right to know who was compensated by Trump and Pence in the six months between Trump’s second impeachment trial, in which the US Senate acquitted him, and the assault on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The Trump and Pence transition offices spent public cash on everything from stationery etched with Trump’s initials to printer toner and a plastic floor mat for use beneath the former president’s desk chair, according to information acquired by Insider under the Freedom of Information Act.
According to the documents, at least 17 former White House advisers, including Stephen Miller and Dan Scavino, got a government salary and benefits while working for Trump’s post-presidential transition office.
According to papers acquired by Insider, the General Services Administration calculated that Trump’s post-presidential team would get nearly $1.3 million in government salaries and benefits between January 20, 2021, and July 21, 2021, when the official transition period concluded.
Insider Inc. v. the United States General Services Administration is a lawsuit now underway in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
