Trump Admin Argues DOGE Is Exempt From Records Requests in FOIA Lawsuit

“In response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, the Trump administration is arguing that its much-hyped Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is exempt from public records requests.”

“”All aspects of the government must be fully transparent and accountable to the people,” Musk posted on X earlier this month. “No exceptions, including, if not especially, the Federal Reserve.”
At a White House press conference earlier this month, Musk said, “We are actually trying to be as transparent as possible, so all of our actions are maximally transparent. I don’t know of a case where an organization has been more transparent than the DOGE organization.”

And again, Musk declared last November: “There should be no need for FOIA requests. All government data should be default public for maximum transparency.”

But DOGE has struggled to make its data public while also claiming exemption from FOIA, which is a recipe for maximum opacity, not transparency.

Between the shifting claims of how much taxpayer money DOGE was going to save, the release and quiet deletion of error-filled data, and now attempts to hide DOGE from public record laws—well, it doesn’t inspire confidence.”

https://reason.com/2025/02/28/trump-admin-argues-doge-is-exempt-from-records-requests-in-foia-lawsuit/

Abolish FOIA

“What would be better than FOIA?
An employee of a federal agency, who was sick of constantly having her email searched for records requests, once floated the idea to me of proactive disclosure: Just redact and release everyone’s emails on a rolling basis.”

https://reason.com/2024/11/14/abolish-foia/