The DNC Goes Fishing – What Will it Catch?

By John A Jenkins, Law Street Media, Aug. 30, 2023

FOIAengine Examines Political Opposition Research

A few weeks ago, Politico’s Florida Playbook ran a story revealing what “hundreds of people, groups, and journalists” in the state were asking for:  “texts, emails, calendars, letters, and receipts” to or from Florida’s governor, presidential candidate Ron DeSantis. 

In Politico’s telling, many of the requesters were affiliated with the Democratic Party,  making demands under the state’s open-records law to get “damning material against political enemies.”  And, in DeSantis’ case, Florida’s public records certainly marked the best starting point to look for muck.  The list that Politico received of requesters targeting DeSantis in his home state was 222 pages long.

“Unsurprisingly, mostly Democratic-aligned groups asked for dirt on DeSantis and his inner circle,” Politico wrote.  “Oddly, no one tied to Trump – or other 2024 candidates – asked for such records, though it’s possible that GOP campaigns used an untraceable proxy to avoid angering a future Republican president.”

Why didn’t the Trump campaign file such requests?  Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesperson, bluntly told Politico:  “We have information that no opposition researcher can ever find.”

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