The Department of Homeland Security has agreed to release information regarding presidential visitors to Mar-a-Lago golf course, the Knight First Amendment Institute announced today, following its lawsuit with Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the National Security Archive. The organizations filed the suit against the Department for failing to disclose records of visits to the White House and to President Trump at his Mar-a-Lago and Trump Tower residences.
Alex Abdo, senior staff attorney at the Knight Institute, made the following statement:
“It’s a promising first step that the Department of Homeland Security has agreed to release information on Mar-a-Lago’s visitors, but what might be in these disclosures is a mystery. The government does not appear to keep regular records of presidential visitors to Mar-a-Lago or Trump Tower, and it continues to argue that it need not disclose more formal records of visitors to the White House. In our view, the Freedom of Information Act requires the government to make this information – which relates to who exerts influence over the president -- available to the public, and we intend to fight for its release.”
View the ruling and complaint.
About the Knight Institute
The Knight First Amendment Institute is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization established by Columbia University and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to defend the freedoms of speech and press in the digital age through strategic litigation, research, and public education.