{"id":1333513,"date":"2022-02-23T16:28:27","date_gmt":"2022-02-23T21:28:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1333513"},"modified":"2022-02-23T16:38:22","modified_gmt":"2022-02-23T21:38:22","slug":"watchdog-sues-doj-for-withholding-documents-on-hiring-of-russia-truther-susan-hennessey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watchdog-sues-doj-for-withholding-documents-on-hiring-of-russia-truther-susan-hennessey\/","title":{"rendered":"Watchdog Sues DOJ For Withholding Documents On Hiring Of Russia Truther Susan Hennessey"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwatchdog-sues-doj-for-withholding-documents-on-hiring-of-russia-truther-susan-hennessey%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1333513&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A government watchdog is suing the Department of Justice (DOJ) over the agency\u2019s refusal to comply with a pair of records requests mandated under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday, the nonprofit group Empower Oversight filed its lawsuit to compel the release of documents shedding light on the DOJ\u2019s commitment to the independence of the Durham investigation, a special counsel probe into the origins of the Russia hoax. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cEmpower Oversight has been incredibly patient in attempting to work with the Justice Department since last summer,\u201d Empower Oversight\u2019s founder and president Jason Foster said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/empowr.us\/empower-oversight-sues-doj-for-documents-on-hiring-of-durham-critic-and-special-counsel-budget\/\">press release<\/a>. \u201cBut, the issues raised in our filings are key to ensuring public faith in the integrity, independence, and objectivity of the DOJ\u2019s handling of the Durham probe. If the DOJ simply complied voluntarily and timely with its FOIA obligations, litigation like this would not be necessary to enforce the transparency required by law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The group\u2019s first FOIA submitted in July last year aimed at the agency\u2019s hiring practices with the decision to <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/05\/10\/bidens-doj-hired-full-on-russia-collusion-hoaxer-susan-hennessey-to-its-national-security-division\/\">recruit<\/a> attorney, former CNN analyst, and Russia truther Susan Hennessey to join the department\u2019s National Security Division (NSD). The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/justice-department-releases-information-election-day-efforts-protect-right-vote-and-prosecu-1\">division<\/a> Hennessey now serves as a senior official \u201csupervises the investigation and prosecution of cases affecting or relating to national security, including any cases involving foreign interference in elections or violent extremist threats to elections.\u201d That includes the investigation run by U.S. Special Counsel John Durham, an investigation Hennessey has previously dismissed in <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/05\/10\/russia-collusion-hoaxer-working-in-dojs-national-security-division-discounted-the-durham-report\/\">since-deleted tweets<\/a> as it probes the conspiracies Hennessey championed. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Screen-Shot-2021-05-10-at-3.23.32-PM.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>Empower Oversight sought documents related to whether the department took steps to recuse Hennessey from oversight of the very probe she criticized. <\/p>\n<p>The group\u2019s second FOIA request was filed in August, and targeted the Justice Department\u2019s financial commitment to fully fund the Durham investigation after the Mueller probe was run for years with unlimited resources. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cEmpower Oversight sought all records of any communications regarding the Fiscal Year 2022 budget for the Durham investigation in order to get a clearer picture for the public regarding the potential for interference with the Special Counsel\u2019s independence,\u201d the group wrote.<\/p>\n<p>In February last year, Attorney General Merrick Garland told lawmakers during his confirmation hearing he saw \u201cno reason\u201d Durham should be relieved from the investigation but made no commitment to full funding for the probe when pressed on the issue. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t have any reason, from what I know now, which is really very little, to make any determination on that ground,\u201d Garland <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/garland-sees-no-reason-why-durham-shouldnt-be-left-in-place-for-russia-origins-probe\">said<\/a> of agency resources dedicated to the probe. \u201cBut I have no reason to think he should not remain in place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to The Federalist\u2019s request for comment. <\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A government watchdog is suing the Department of Justice (DOJ) over the agency\u2019s refusal to comply with a pair of records requests mandated under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1333513","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1333513","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1333513"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1333513\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1333513"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1333513"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1333513"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}