FOIA News: Former FBI official Andrew McCabe files FOIA lawsuit against FBI, DOJ, DOJ-OIG

June 13, 2018 Ryan Mulvey

Fired FBI official Andrew McCabe's lawyers file suit against FBI, DOJ, and its watchdog

Elizabeth Zwirz, Fox News, June 12, 2018

Lawyers representing former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe filed a suit against the Justice Department and FBI on Tuesday, alleging that they wouldn't give up files connected to his ouster.

McCabe’s lawyers claimed the Justice Department has denied access to the sought-after information out of concern that the documents could be later used against them, the lawsuit said. The suit also named the office of the DOJ inspector general.

“We don’t create or adjudicate under secret law or procedure,” David Snyder, a lawyer representing McCabe, told The Associated Press.

A representative for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.

Read more here.

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With His New Lawsuit, McCabe is About to Learn Himself How Hard It is to Get Info From DOJ

Elura Nanos, Law & Crime, June 13, 2018

Well, we had to expect that there’d be at least some litigation-flavored fallout over that nasty Andrew McCabe firing; ousting the guy a day before his planned retirement and thereby yanking away his health and retirement benefits was a signature Trump display of one-upsmanship.

It looks like David L. Snyder, counsel for McCabe (much like we at Law & Crime), knew that the defamation lawsuit McCabe initially threatened wasn’t really the way to go. As an alternative, he’s trying his hand at a different kind of claim. Instead of suing for some version of “Trump Shouldn’t Have Fired My Client,” Snyder has brought a Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) lawsuit on behalf of McCabe against the Department of Justice and the FBI; in it, Snyder alleges that the agencies have violated FOIA by failing to turn over the documents that purportedly formed the basis for McCabe’s termination. He now seeks court intervention to force the government to turn over various documents from the FBI and the Office of the Inspector General.

The lawsuit demands internal documents, including FBI and OIG manuals and policy implementation guides, alleging that those things are non-exempt “records” within the meaning of FOIA. According to the allegations, the government’s failure to turn over these materials so far, “constitutes a continuing pattern and practice of violating the proactive disclosure requirements of FOIA.”