CNBC sought to learn about the agenda at the private investor meeting convened by Jared Kushner in China, on the sidelines of the president’s official visit, and how the attendees were selected. A White House official had subsequently confirmed the existence of the meeting to CNBC, but when pressed on attendees, the official would only say no real estate investors were present.
The White House and State Department did not respond to additional requests for information about the meeting. Shong, now aware that the meeting had not been disclosed by the Trump administration, declined to provide additional information.
To get the information, CNBC filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act with the State Department, requesting online and analog communications among the officials present, as well as information about attendees. The State Department acknowledged the request on Dec. 11, 2017, but suggested getting the information would take a long time because of the “unusual circumstances” around the request.
A former Beijing embassy official suggested that the relative newness of the political staff may be one complicating factor. Branstad himself had been in the job for several months, but his chief of staff and other aides had just been onboarded weeks, if not days, before the meeting. Even so, the official said the embassy’s front office was staffed by career bureaucrats, who are known for keeping meticulous records.
The original filing requested “expedited processing,” granted in cases of newsworthiness or urgency. CNBC reasoned this meeting possessed both qualities, and, if Kushner had been meeting with investors who would participate in future business, there were urgent implications. After being denied expedition the first time around, CNBC appealed.
In a May 2018 letter, the State Department again said in its denial that the request “did not meet the established criteria” for expedited processing.
For more than a year, CNBC e-mailed State regularly to check in on the status. The department routinely cited the size of the backlog of requests as a reason it could not estimate when it would complete the request.
Last October, the department finally provided a date: July 23, 2021 — 3½ years after the original filing. Put another way: 1,323 days.
During the first two years of the Trump presidency, the State Department processed 83% of “complex” requests in less than 400 days, according to analysis of public data available on FOIA.gov.
First Amendment attorneys for NBC News have made contact with the FOIA liaison at the State Department, who said that searches have been run, but not much material has turned up.
Anne Weisman, chief FOIA counsel at Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington, said that requests touching the White House often require additional vetting, but that it’s “patently absurd” that State could require four years to fulfill the request.
“Our experience is we don’t get an estimated date of completion until we sue,” Weisman said. “That’s what it really takes to get State’s attention.”
Another watchdog group, the Project on Government Oversight, stressed that citizens have a right to know what government officials are doing.
“We are entitled to these documents, and the executive branch has to release them unless there’s a good reason to withhold them,” said Liz Hempowicz, public policy director at the Project on Government Oversight. “And if something is embarrassing or politically inconvenient, then that’s not a good reason.”
How long does State take to complete a “complex” FOIA request? (Source: FOIA.gov)
- Complex requests, total for fiscal 2017 and 2018: 14,358
- 1-200 days: 4,723
- 200-400 days: 7,205
- 400-plus days: 2,430
Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/01/30/trump-administration-mum-on-secretive-kushner-meeting-in-china-in-2017.html