FOIA Advisor

FOIA News: MuckRock evaluates FOIA under Trump

FOIA News (2015-2023)Ryan MulveyComment

Under Trump, a strained FOIA continues to show its seams

Michael Morisy, MuckRock, Jan. 25, 2018

A little over a year ago, I took a look at what FOIA might look like under the Trump administration. Unfortunately for transparency, things have turned out much as we expected.

The slow get slower

When Donald J. Trump took office, our data found that the average federal FOIA request took 162 days to complete from the time it was filed. Now, that average has crept up to 169 days. Things weren’t helped when early on a hiring freeze was put in place across federal agencies: Some agencies we spoke with were at half or even a quarter of their planned staffing, bringing some departments to a virtual standstill.

Read more here.