{"id":1398386,"date":"2022-03-24T12:44:44","date_gmt":"2022-03-24T16:44:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1398386"},"modified":"2022-03-24T12:44:47","modified_gmt":"2022-03-24T16:44:47","slug":"watchdog-group-sues-state-dept-for-withholding-john-kerry-docs-until-after-2024-presidential-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watchdog-group-sues-state-dept-for-withholding-john-kerry-docs-until-after-2024-presidential-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Watchdog Group Sues State Dept for Withholding John Kerry Docs Until After 2024 Presidential Election"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/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-group-sues-state-dept-for-withholding-john-kerry-docs-until-after-2024-presidential-election%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=1398386&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--><div id=\"speechkit-wrapper\" class=\"speechkit-wrapper\">\n<p><span class=\"label-bg\">NEW<\/span>You can now listen to Fox News articles!\n  <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"speakable\"><strong>FIRST ON FOX: <\/strong>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/category\/politics\/foreign-policy\/state-department\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>State Department<\/u><\/a> is being sued by a government watchdog group after the department said they would not be able to fulfill a documents request involving presidential climate envoy John Kerry\u2019s office until after the next presidential election in 2024.<\/p>\n<p class=\"speakable\">Protect the Public\u2019s Trust (PPT), a government watchdog, filed the transparency suit against the State Department on Wednesday after the department said they wouldn\u2019t be able to fulfill the group\u2019s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request on Kerry\u2019s office until Nov. 18, 2024.<\/p>\n<p>This means that the State Department said they cannot fulfill the request until after the next presidential election.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/politics\/state-department-putin-accountable\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><u>STATE DEPARTMENT UNABLE TO CONFIRM THAT PUTIN WILL BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE AFTER DECLARING \u2018WAR CRIMES\u2019 BY RUSSIA<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"image-ct inline\">\n<div class=\"m\"><source media=\"(max-width: 767px)\" \/><source media=\"(min-width: 767px)\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxnews.com\/foxnews.com\/content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/640\/320\/Kerry042621BT.jpg?ve=1&#038;tl=1\" alt=\"Special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry speaks during a press briefing at the White House on April 22, 2021. (AP Photo\/Evan Vucci)\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"caption\">\n<p>\n      Special presidential envoy for climate John Kerry speaks during a press briefing at the White House on April 22, 2021. (AP Photo\/Evan Vucci)\n      <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>PPT director Michael Chamberlain torched the Biden administration over their lack of transparency in a Wednesday statement to Fox News Digital.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Biden administration promised to be the most transparent ever,&#8221; Chamberlain said. &#8220;But when the State Department is asked for records about John Kerry\u2019s office \u2013 whose work touches on energy prices, international relations, many of the issues the American public cares about right now \u2013 they refuse to commit to anything until after the next presidential election.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It doesn\u2019t take a huge cynic to believe politics may be a factor,&#8221; Chamberlain continued.<\/p>\n<div class=\"image-ct inline\">\n<div class=\"m\"><source media=\"(max-width: 767px)\" \/><source media=\"(min-width: 767px)\" \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/a57.foxnews.com\/static.foxnews.com\/foxnews.com\/content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/640\/320\/joe-biden.jpg?ve=1&#038;tl=1\" alt=\"President Biden made John Kerry his presidential climate envoy.\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"caption\">\n<p>\n      President Biden made John Kerry his presidential climate envoy.<br \/>\n      <span class=\"copyright\">(AP Photo\/Patrick Semansky)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>According to the suit exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital, PPT initially filed the FOIA request with the State Department on Oct. 20, 2021, for meeting requests, external and internal communications, and legal counsel communications from Special Envoy for Climate Change (SECC) senior advisor Jesse Young.<\/p>\n<p>The request also asks for Young\u2019s &#8220;official calendar, schedule, travel logs and itineraries, government purchase card transactions, and government cell phone log.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Young was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ned.org\/fellows\/jesse-young\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>previously<\/u><\/a> an adviser to Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and was on the State Department team that engaged in negotiations for the 2015 Paris climate accord.<\/p>\n<p>In their press release, PPT highlighted a portion of their lawsuit that included a quote from a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/ag\/page\/file\/1483516\/download\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>memo<\/u><\/a> by Attorney General Merrick Garland on the importance of government transparency.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;As the Garland Memo makes clear, \u2018Timely disclosure of records is also essential to the core purpose of FOIA.\u2019\u2026An agency purporting to give itself more than three years to complete a FOIA request is anything but timely,&#8221; the lawsuit excerpt reads.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/apps-products?pid=AppArticleLink\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><u>CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP<\/u><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Particularly where, as here, the Department\u2019s proposed completion date conveniently allows it to hide information about high level political appointees working on one of the administration\u2019s highest priorities until just after the next presidential election,&#8221; it continues. &#8220;This can hardly be said to promote \u2018transparency\u2019 or \u2018accountability.\u2019&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>A State Department spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a Thursday email, &#8220;As a general matter, we do not comment on ongoing litigation.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! FIRST ON FOX: The State Department is being sued by a government watchdog group after the department said they would not be<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":489,"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-1398386","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\/1398386","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\/489"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1398386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1398386\/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=1398386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1398386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1398386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}