The Obama FOIA timebomb

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Mar 31, 2022 View in browser   By Alex Thompson, Josh Gerstein and Max Tani Presented by Welcome to POLITICO's West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from Allie Bice.  Send tips | Subscribe here | Email Alex | Email Max For JOE BIDEN, there have been a lot of advantages to having once served as vice president: familiarity with the office, established relationships with powerful people, and a team of advisers with relevant experience. But there is also a distinct disadvantage: People can dig through the archives of your prior work. Starting on January 20, 2022 — five years since BARACK OBAMA left office — inquisitive journalists, opposition researchers, and amateur conspiracy theorists began filing a barrage of Freedom of Information Act requests (also known as "FOIAs") to the Obama library. In fact, from January 20 through February 13, there were over 800 such FOIA requests filed under the Presidential Records Act, according to a list of the FOIA filings that we obtained through FOIA-ing (yes, it's a verb too). Many of those FOIAs appear to have the intent of damaging or illuminating the Biden presidency rather than just looking backward. In the age of QAnon, the majority of the FOIA requests so far have been of the conspiratorial variety. The library has been flooded with requests related to pizzagate, Dr. ANTHONY FAUCI, Obama's birth certificate, former DNC staffer SETH RICH (whose 2016 murder sparked endless conspiracies and a since-settled lawsuit against those who spread them), and numerous others. "All documentations related to Obama's Hot Dog Party," went one request. "This includes all expenses, the guest list to include how many children were present, and the duration of the party." The Obama hot dog party conspiracy is a particularly wild one, emanating from a Facebook post of a man holding a sign about a shindig the former president supposedly threw, from which it was interpreted that hot dogs he spent money on was actually code for child prostitution. Other FOIAs are more serious and could affect the Biden presidency. But that depends on when the documents are made public. And getting the requests fulfilled is no small task. At many presidential libraries, the queues for processing FOIAs stretch for years. Broad requests and those involving classified information can take more than a decade and there is a provision in the law that gives extended protection to information on presidential advice and appointments. Still, ALLAN BLUTSTEIN , a lawyer with the conservative research group America Rising, filed requests for information on past vettings of judges who are widely seen as potential Supreme Court picks should Biden have the opportunity to fill another vacancy. They include LUCY KOH, CHERYL KRAUSE, PAUL WATFORD, LESLIE ABRAMS GARDNER (sister of Stacey), MICHELLE CHILDS, and SRI SRINIVASAN. The group also asked for correspondence files for close Biden adviser ANITA DUNN and Biden's special envoy for Iran ROBERT MALLEY , both of whom served in the Obama administration. NATE JONES, the FOIA director at The Washington Post, requested all records relating to the so-called "Beer Summit" in 2009 between Biden, Obama, Harvard professor HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR., and Cambridge police officer JAMES CROWLEY. The Post did not respond to a request for comment. And the progressive reporter ANDREW PEREZ requested documents about Wall Street bonuses during the financial crisis. He also requested all "emails, documents, and memos regarding "PhRMA," "Pharmaceutical Researchers and Manufacturers Association," and/or "Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America" sent and received by various high-ranking White House officials. During the crafting of Obamacare, PhRMA and the White House cut a controversial deal that exempted the industry from far-reaching reforms in exchange for cost savings that would help fund legislation. Perez told West Wing Playbook that "we have scaled back our initial requests to help move them along. As for the motivation, we always want to see how the sausage gets made." One FOIA request that did catch our eye came from Blutstein. Noting the famous photo of Obama and his team in the Situation Room during the raid to kill OSAMA BIN LADEN , he requested "copies of any additional photographs taken in the same location in connection with the same mission on May 1, 2011." But America Rising said that request was for history rather than opposition research. Blutstein said he got the idea from the way that the photos of 9/11 were released. You can read the full list of FOIA requests for yourself here. TEXT US — Are you REBECCA CHALIF, press director at USAID? We want to hear from you (we'll keep you anonymous).  Or if you think we missed something in today's edition, let us know and we may include it tomorrow.  Email us at westwingtips@politico.com or you can text/Signal/Wickr/WhatsApp Alex at 8183240098 or Max at 7143455427. A message from Facebook: We build tools that give you control and help keep you safe Real connection can only happen on safe platforms. So we build tools to protect our communities. • Privacy Checkup, where you can manage your privacy settings and control who sees what you share • Industry-leading AI that detects and reacts to harmful content faster than ever Learn about our efforts   POTUS PUZZLER From the University of Virginia's Miller Center  Which president's Inaugural Address was the longest in American history? (Answer at bottom.) The Oval DUCK TALES — TJ DUCKLO, the former White House deputy communications director who left his job just weeks into the new administration for reasons that readers of this newsletter already know , will be the new top communications official and senior adviser for the mayor of Nashville. As West Wing Playbook has previously reported, Ducklo has been working for well-known New York PR operative RISA HELLER for the past several years, advising on high-profile private clients. But in recent months, he's also been involved in the political arena, helping advise Judge KETANJI BROWN JACKSON earlier this year as she was under consideration to be nominated to the Supreme Court. PSYOPS?: Speaking earlier today, Biden decided to engage in a bit of open speculation about VLADIMIR PUTIN. "I'm not saying this with certainty — he seems to be self-isolating, and there's some indication that he has fired or put under house arrest some of his advisers," said Biden. "But I don't want to put too much stock in that at this time because we don't have that much hard evidence." MYAH WARD has more. MEA CULPA — Yesterday's edition included the incorrect link to the website the White House is launching for Covid-19 resources. The correct URL is Covid.gov. Going to Covid.org will not help if you're sick. We feel silly about the error.   SUBSCRIBE TO NATIONAL SECURITY DAILY : Keep up with the latest critical developments from Ukraine and across Europe in our daily newsletter, National Security Daily. The Russian invasion of Ukraine could disrupt the established world order and result in a refugee crisis, increased cyberattacks, rising energy costs and additional disruption to global supply chains. Go inside the top national security and foreign-policymaking shops for insight on the global threats faced by the U.S. and its allies and what actions world leaders are taking to address them. Subscribe today.     THE BUREAUCRATS TAI v. RAIMONDO — Sen. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-Mass.) made clear today that she favors U.S. Trade Representative KATHERINE TAI's approach to trade over that of Commerce Secretary GINA RAIMONDO. After Tai testified in front of the Senate, the Massachusetts Democrat told POLITICO's GAVIN BADE (follow him here!) : "It's a matter of public record that both Ambassador Tai and Secretary Raimondo listed what their priorities would be as they negotiated these new trade pillars [to the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework]. Ambassador Tai talked about the importance of labor and environmental protection. Those were nowhere in Secretary Raimondo's list of priorities." Tai and Raimondo have privately clashed over the right approach to trade deals, though Tai dismissed tensions with Raimondo. Asked if she was worried about mixed messages coming from the Biden administration on the matter, Warren said: "I would be very happy to see Ambassador Tai in charge of all of our trade negotiations. That's why she's the trade rep." Tai's reception in the West Wing has been less effusive, as we reported with Gavin last month. But after the hearing, she told Gavin, "I'm really grateful to have Secretary Raimondo as a partner. The Commerce Department is bigger than we are, they have a larger set of jurisdictions and competencies, and they have a huge amount of very talented staff." POLITICO Pro Subscribers can read the full thing here. Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports: "Biden Trade Agenda Criticized by Senators for Lack of Ambition" COVID NOT SO UNDERCOVER — CIA director BILL BURNS tested positive for Covid-19, the agency's public affairs office announced Thursday . He is fully vaccinated and boosted, but is experiencing mild symptoms. Burns saw the president in a meeting Wednesday morning, but remained socially distant and wore an N-95 mask during it. Burns' confirmed case comes after others close to the president have also recently tested positive — like deputy press secretary KARINE JEAN PIERRE, press secretary JEN PSAKI and Second Gentleman DOUG EMHOFF. THEY'RE BACK, BABY! — VIVIAN SALAMA, The Wall Street Journal's national security reporter, snapped a pic of today's State Department press briefing, noting that they're "back to full capacity for the first time in two years!" JUST IN TIME FOR THE PLAYOFFS: Biden named NBA all-star CHRIS PAUL of the Phoenix Suns to his Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Paul is a prominent advocate for HBCUs, regularly rolling up to games in hoodies from various Black colleges. It's shaping up to be a very good year for the veteran NBA star, whose team will be the 2021-22 NBA champions (book it), assuming he doesn't get injured right before the playoffs (also, book it). Agenda Setting TAPPING INTO THE OIL RESERVES (BA DUM TSSS) — The president announced he's ordering the release of 1 million barrels of oil per day from the nation's strategic reserves, in an effort to tame rising gas prices across the country, our ZACK COLMAN and BEN LEFEBVRE report. In remarks Thursday, Biden also urged Congress to pass legislation that would press the oil industry to increase drilling on leased lands or be fined for it. RUBLE NO LONGER RUBBLE — POLITICO's KATE DAVIDSON reports that after sanctions sent Russia's currency crashing in the weeks after the invasion of Ukraine, the ruble has staged a dramatic recovery. The currency fall was a major talking point for the Biden administration. "As a result of these unprecedented sanctions, the ruble almost is immediately reduced to rubble," Biden himself said last week. The recovery — partly due to the surge in oil and gas prices which were explicitly carved out of the initial sanctions — is putting pressure on Biden to impose more economic sanctions. But Treasury officials also told Kate that they don't see the ruble's rise as a sign that sanctions are no longer effective.     Advise and Consent OOPS — NICK NIEDZWIADEK and ELEANOR MUELLER report that, "a trio of moderate Senate Democrats dealt a fatal blow to DAVID WEIL's bid to head the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division Wednesday night by unexpectedly voting against moving forward on his nomination and, in the process, undermining President Joe Biden's labor agenda. Weil, the first Biden nominee to fail on the Senate floor, previously held the position under Obama." The three senators? KYRSTEN SINEMA and MARK KELLY of Arizona plus West Virginia's JOE MANCHIN. What We're Reading State Dept. Will Allow Americans to Mark Their Gender as 'X' on Passports (NYT's Aishvarya Kavi) Upbeat Economic Outlook Aids Biden's Deficit Push (WSJ's Amara Omeokwe) U.S. consumer spending cools as goods outlays decline; labor market tightening (Reuters' Lucia Mutikani) U.S. to Make 35,000 More H-2B Visas Available for Seasonal Workers (WSJ's Michelle Hackman) What We're Watching Vice President KAMALA HARRIS on MSNBC's The ReidOut with host JOY REID on April 1 at 7 p.m. ET. White House Chief of Staff RON KLAIN on the The David Rubenstein Show on YouTube.   DON'T MISS CONGRESS MINUTES: Need to follow the action on Capitol Hill blow-by-blow? Check out Minutes, POLITICO's new platform that delivers the latest exclusives, twists and much more in real time. Get it on your desktop or download the POLITICO mobile app for iOS or Android. CHECK OUT CONGRESS MINUTES HERE.     Where's Joe He received the president's daily brief this morning. The president also delivered remarks about what the administration is doing to ease gas prices. Where's Kamala She joined the president for the daily brief, but otherwise had no public events scheduled. The Oppo Book Domestic Policy Council Director SUSAN RICE isn't a big TV watcher. She told BuzzFeed News' back in 2016 that she "almost never" watches TV. "If I'm working out in the morning, I'm on the machine, I'm reading the newspaper, I'm reading some briefing materials," she said. "I may well have on the TV BBC News, Morning Joe — depending on how aggravated I am by those people — so that's like maybe a finite period of time." She clarified she watches some TV passively: "I might watch football on the weekends in the background. I might listen to TREVOR NOAH or something if I'm up late at night. Not that late, but you know." Susan, if you're reading this…. Love Is Blind Season 2…. It won't disappoint. POTUS PUZZLER ANSWER It took WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON nearly two hours to read his March 4, 1841, Inaugural Address, which, at more than 8,000 words was the longest in American history. Shortly afterwards, however, Harrison caught pneumonia. He died thirty-two days after assuming the office, making his presidency, in contrast to the speech, the shortest in American history. For more on Harrison and his presidency, visit millercenter.org. A CALL OUT — Think you have a more difficult trivia question? Send us your best question on the presidents with a citation and we may feature it. Edited by Sam Stein A message from Facebook: Choose end-to-end encrypted messages on Messenger Your personal conversations should be as private as you want them to be. That's why you can add a layer of protection to your chats in Messenger, and even voice and video calls, with end-to-end encryption. So you can connect in a more private, secure way. See how else we're keeping you safe online.     Follow us on Twitter Alex Thompson @AlexThomp Maxwell Tani @maxwelltani Allie Bice @alliebice   Follow us

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