Judge orders release of ex-acting AG Whitaker’s financial documents

By Josh Gerstein, Politico, Dec. 5, 2019

A federal judge has turned down the Justice Department’s bid to keep secret several financial disclosure forms acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker submitted before his filings were formally accepted by ethics officials.

Acting on a Freedom of Information Act suit brought by BuzzFeed, U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden ruled Wednesday that the draft financial disclosures are not eligible for protection under an exemption protecting the confidentiality of policy-making debates.

"The Court is unpersuaded by DOJ’s 'deliberative process' arguments," wrote McFadden, an appointee of President Donald Trump. “Whitaker’s draft forms do not bear the mark of the deliberative process.”

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