Jason Leopold

Portrait of a Young DOGE Coder Dismantling America’s Institutions Luke Farritor could have been an artist, or a builder, or someone dedicated to seeing a great historical mystery through. Instead he wound up at the Department of Government Efficiency, slashing, dism...

Yes, the future of the United States government was very much influenced by the decisions of a 23-year-old from Lincoln, Nebraska. But there is much more to the Luke Farritor story. One of @jacobfeldman.bsky.social & @dvnjr.bsky.social's top picks via @bloomberg.com www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

Thank you, @thesundaylongread.bsky.social, for making this @bloomberg.com @businessweek.bsky.social story a top pick for the week.

And congratulations on your 500th edition!

(Story by Susan Berfield, @margimurphy.bsky.social @jasonleopold.bsky.social)

It would just be copies.

As I noted yesterday, Trump could agree to let his name out or sign a privacy waiver. Or, when he—and everybody else named in the files—eventually dies, most of their privacy rights will disappear.

Disclosing Trump’s name, the FBI maintains, would neither shed light on how the FBI conducted its investigation into Epstein, nor that the FBI engaged in illegal activity.

Also, FOIA case law has established that the names of private individuals contained in law enforcement files will not be released unless they have to be in order to confirm government misconduct.

That’s partly because the DOJ has said that the very “mention of an individual’s name in a law enforcement file will engender comment and speculation and carries a stigmatizing connotation.”

It’s way more difficult to make a case for disclosure when names are also withheld under Exemption 7(C), the second exemption used by the FBI to justify redacting Trump's name.

Before withholding records under Exemption 6, one of the exemptions used to redact Trump's name, government agencies are supposed to conduct a balancing test to determine if their release would significantly contribute to the public’s understanding of the operations or activities of the government.

An Appeals Court Said Part Of The Mueller Report, About Donald Trump Jr., Must Be Made Public “BuzzFeed has identified a significant public interest and demonstrated how disclosure will advance that interest,” the appeals court said in an 18-page opinion.

Another noteworthy example: The DOJ cited the same exemptions to justify withholding Donald Trump Jr’s name from the Mueller report. (My attorneys and I believed it was an improper use of the privacy exemption. We fought to get his name unredacted and won.)

www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jaso...

"If You Keep Fucking With Mr. Trump We Know Where You Live” Trump’s casino business went bankrupt, and then a lawyer representing investors told police he got a menacing call from a man who said, “We’re going to your house for your wife and kids” if he didn’t ...

I ended up suing the bureau and modifying my FOIA request to center on Trump’s businesses. That allowed me to overcome the privacy exemption and report this story.

www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jaso...

In 2016, I requested all of the FBI’s files on Trump prior to his presidential campaign. In response, the FBI neither confirmed nor denied that any records existed, based on the same two privacy exemptions.

More than a decade ago, I requested records from the FBI on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. The FBI cited privacy in denying my request and said I needed to get a privacy waiver signed by Mohammed himself.

To explain the FBI's rationale for using two privacy exemptions under the #FOIA to justify redacting Trump's name in the Epstein files I went on a deep dive and cited my own battles trying to obtain records on high profile public figures

🧵

@durbin.senate.gov on Trump's name being redacted in the Epstein files

Trump, "has the power to unilaterally help fix this by consenting to the release of his name in the files to the public to fulfill the promises of Attorney General Bondi that the public would see the ‘full Epstein files.’”

Labor Officials Were Alarmed By Trump's Jobs Report Tweet: "It's All Over The News" "Are you ‘whispering words of wisdom’?" one official wrote, according to emails newly obtained by BuzzFeed News.

From my 2018 #FOIA cache

"Top officials at the Bureau of Labor Statistics expressed alarm over a tweet by President Donald Trump last month touting a jobs report before it was officially released, according to newly obtained emails."

www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jaso...

Don't miss this other Epstein files related SCOOP in this week's newsletter related to the FBI's search and review of the files in March

www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Of course, Trump could agree to let his name out or sign a privacy waiver. Or, when he—and everybody else named in the files—eventually dies, most of their privacy rights will disappear.

Here’s the bottom line: The FBI's behind-the-scenes decision-making suggests that the chances of aliens resurrecting JFK are greater than Trump’s name ever being unredacted from the Epstein files.

A White House spokesperson would not respond to questions about the redactions of Trump’s name, instead referring questions to the FBI. The FBI declined to comment. The Justice Department did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

The second, Exemption 7(C), protects personal information contained in law enforcement records, the disclosure of which “could reasonably be expected to constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”

In particular, the reviewers applied two FOIA exemptions to justify their redactions. The first, Exemption 6, protects individuals against “a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.”

From the government’s perspective, Trump was a private citizen when the Epstein investigation took place and therefore is entitled to privacy protections.

An FBI team, made up of personnel from the bureau's #FOIA office and were tasked with conducting a final review of the voluminous cache, had applied the redactions. They used the 9 exemptions under the FOIA as a guide (as I reported in March) in deciding what information to withhold

The FBI Redacted Trump’s Name in the Epstein Files The bureau’s FOIA team tasked with conducting a final review of the records blacked out the names before higher-ups said last month that releasing the documents ‘would not be appropriate or warranted....

NEW FOIA Files SCOOP: The FBI redacted Trump’s name—and the names of other prominent public figures—from the Epstein files under two privacy exemptions before DOJ & FBI concluded “no further disclosure” of the files “would be appropriate or warranted.”
www.bloomberg.com/news/newslet...

Portrait of a Young DOGE Coder Dismantling America’s Institutions Luke Farritor could have been an artist, or a builder, or someone dedicated to seeing a great historical mystery through. Instead he wound up at the Department of Government Efficiency, slashing, dism...

Well-reported & depressing piece about Luke Farritor and DOGE: www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

First off, this profile draws a little off my own coverage of DOGE but mostly from this terrific profile from Bloomberg, which you should read! Great investigative reporting!
bsky.app/profile/jaso...

The Acolyte A profile of one DOGEr tells us much about a broader movement

New, from me: Luke Farritor joined DOGE, answering the call of his "biggest hero" Elon Musk.

His story reveals how the combination of know-nothing libertarianism combined with the political power of Silicon Valley is destroying our government. 🧵
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/doges-will...

Portrait of a Young DOGE Coder Dismantling America’s Institutions Luke Farritor could have been an artist, or a builder, or someone dedicated to seeing a great historical mystery through. Instead he wound up at the Department of Government Efficiency, slashing, dism...

Here's a gift link

www.bloomberg.com/features/202...

If you're hitting the paywall on our story about Luke Farritor -- DOGE-Pilles -- here is a gift link

www.bloomberg.com/features/202...