Judicial Watch Asks Court to Order U.S. Secret Service to Release Hidden Logs of Obama's White Hous

Judicial Watch Asks Court to Order U.S. Secret Service to Release Hidden Logs of Obama's White House Visitors

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has filed a "Motion for Partial Summary Judgment" in its lawsuit against the U.S. Secret Service asking the court to order the release of Secret Service logs of White House visitors from January 20, 2009, to August, 10, 2009. The Obama administration continues to advance the extraordinary and erroneous claim that the visitor logs "are not agency records subject to the FOIA...

(visit the link for the full news article)


Related News Links:
www.earnedmedia.org
www.citizensforethics.org
www.wnd.com

[edit on 3/3/2010 by waycoolsnoopy]

Greetings ATSers, I haven't seen this story covered much either here at ATS or across the mainstream media at large. This post may be better suited for the "US Political Madness" forum as this has been an ongoing fight with both the Bush and the Obama administrations (Secret Service) for quite some time but in the last few days Judicial Watch has asked the Washington D.C. District Court for "summary judgement" so we may soon finally get the administration of "transparancy and change" to come clean. If and when the citizenry does get access to the visitor logs, I have a feeling they will yield as many new questions as answers. I should also add that Judical Watch's suit is hardly partisan as they have taken the Bush administration to task on this very same issue and they join their more "liberal" counterpart, "Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington" ("CREW") in seeking FOIA full disclosure.

www.judicialwatch.org...


(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 3/3/2010 by waycoolsnoopy]

reply to post by waycoolsnoopy


Why do they want the logs....???
Is there something missing here from the story???
Did Bin Laden and his family dine there one friday??

Why all the fuss, or behind this are just another bunch of Obama haters who are gonna scrutinize every name, looking for something that AINT there and when they dont find it, invent it anyway...

Originally posted by andy1972
reply to post by waycoolsnoopy

 

Why do they want the logs....???
Is there something missing here from the story???
Did Bin Laden and his family dine there one friday??

Why all the fuss, or behind this are just another bunch of Obama haters who are gonna scrutinize every name, looking for something that AINT there and when they dont find it, invent it anyway...

I have to wonder if you even read the original source. Why do they want the logs? For the very same reasons they (and many others) have wanted the visitor logs from past administrations. It is the CITIZEN'S WHITE HOUSE and the citizens have a right to know who is visiting. You may recall Dick Cheney and GWB also tried (and FAILED) to keep the visitors list a secret. They subsequently revealed a long list of energy exectutives visiting and shaping policy.

Obama has frequently touted his "transparent" administration and has issued many "edics" commanding the same. Yet when confronted with FOIA requests they steadfastly stonewalled until multiple FOIA suits were filed. To date, they have only released a select few names and only after September of 2009. Why defy the FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT? Why not simply do the right thing and follow through with a policy of full disclosure?

It's not like they're asking him for his birth certificate or school/travel/passport/legal records, etc. HE MUST RELEASE THESE. IT IS WELL ESTABLISHED LAW/PRECEDENT!

reply to post by waycoolsnoopy


Basically its all CRAP...a group of FOIA´s who wanna know how many toilet rolls they use every month in the White House, and who goes in and out...for christs sake

Anyone on skullduggery in the White House wont be signing in...understand??

Its a group of looneys shouting "I KNOW MY RIGHTS...FOIA...FOIA...and if you dont give em to me its because you got something to hide...."

And this will go on and on and on and on just for sheer stuberness and stuipidity. There´s nothing in the books...jesus.

Why dont they campaign for something thats worth the damn while.

[edit on 3-3-2010 by andy1972]

Originally posted by andy1972
reply to post by waycoolsnoopy

 

Basically its all CRAP...a group of FOIA´s who wanna know how many toilet rolls they use every month in the White House, and who goes in and out...

Are you kidding me?! You need several alarm clocks by your bed -- wake up!!! It is standard to ask and to know. It's called TRANSPARENCY, exactly what the President promised.

Do you really not understand that this is how one learns in part who is influencing executive policy? Lobbyisist, so-called special interests and "friends"? DO you not understand that "the White House" isn't just where the President lives, but where the offices of 100s of senior executive staff work?

President Obama has yet to release any info about even his academic records -- also standard fare for any one elected to the job. His first, or one of the first, exec orders he passed was to thwart access to presidential documents.

reply to post by andy1972


The FOIA is hardly "crap." You may not be interested in this particular demand but many others are and they are not all "loons" looking for toilet paper requisitions. As I said there are "liberal" (normally friendly to a lib like Obama) groups demanding access as well.

And you would be surprised that everyone, even the those committing "shullduggery," would have had to pass the Secret Service's "ACR" or "WAVES" systems and those records are publicly accessable. As I stated before, when the media discovered the records from the Bush administration (particularlly Cheney's 'energy summits) they went berserk and rightfully so.

Finally, if these records were as benign as you assert, why the hardcore defiance? (kinda reminds you of other records they refuse to disclose, eh?) The fact is they are subject to FOIA and people have the right to see them. You may not be interested and that's your prerogative but fortunately for the sake of open and accountable government, others are very interested.

Here's a copy of the motion and corresponding lawsuit:

www.judicialwatch.org...

reply to post by pumpkinorange


Transparency, ok...so its nothing to do with digging the dirt??

They wanna know that everyone who works there earned their job, have their qualifications and is there by hard work, on their own merit.

You dont wanna find out that "x" works there beacuse he´s "y"´s little brother, or that "j" works there because he´s a cousin twice removed of Obamas second aunt and he doesnt have high school..etc etc etc.

The buddy buddy system, nepotism, a rung up the ladder, favors for friends, he owes me a favor and the like..this happens in EVERY institution in the world, be it political or civill or whatever.

Obamas gonna do favors...wouldnt you??
And any man who says no is a liar,

reply to post by waycoolsnoopy


Ah TRANSPARENCY, that magic word that everyone has jumped on, including businesses, it make me sick! instead of using that word they should use 'smudged screen politics' that is in effect what it is.

Originally posted by andy1972
reply to post by pumpkinorange

 

Transparency, ok...so its nothing to do with digging the dirt??

They wanna know that everyone who works there earned their job, have their qualifications and is there by hard work, on their own merit.

You dont wanna find out that "x" works there beacuse he´s "y"´s little brother, or that "j" works there because he´s a cousin twice removed of Obamas second aunt and he doesnt have high school..etc etc etc.

The buddy buddy system, nepotism, a rung up the ladder, favors for friends, he owes me a favor and the like..this happens in EVERY institution in the world, be it political or civill or whatever.

Obamas gonna do favors...wouldnt you??
And any man who says no is a liar,

I don't know how it is where you are but here a free press acting on behalf of the citizenry had better be "digging for dirt!" Especially when there is so much dirt (I would use a different 4 letter word to describe it) to wade through. There has been over 50,000 people in and out of the White House and you can damn well bet a good many of them would rather not let it be known. That which withers in the light of day...

There has been over 50,000 people in and out of the White House and you can damn well bet a good many of them would rather not let it be known. That which withers in the light of day...

50,000 since when???
If they didnt want it to be known why go tho the whitehouse, if indeed the records are public property.

I am all for the truth,but where it matters.
If you dont like Obama, dont vote him next time.
Why not use the resources they have to ask "WHAT DID BARRY JENNINGS DIE OF".
"WHY DID DEBORAH PALFREY COMMIT SUICIDE"..
"WHO KILLED SAL.J.PRINCIOTTA FDNY"...

There are more imprtant questions to be asked of the nation and these people trouble themselves with THIS???


[edit on 3-3-2010 by andy1972]

reply to post by andy1972



50,000 names have been released and that is only since last November!!!

"27 Feb 2010 // The White House released visitors logs from November 2009 Friday afterrnoon, providing roughly 50,000 names from Andrew Abbott, who went on a White House group tour on November 12, 2009 to World Bank president Bob Zoellick's one-hour-and-28-minute November 4 meeting with National Economic Council director Larry Summers.You can check out the latest -- more than 2,376 computer display pages -- as well as previous releases at the White House "disclosures" page HERE. "

www.citizensforethics.org...

These are the ones that they ARE releasing. Imagine how many they are OVERTLY covering up from Jan 09 through September 09!!!

I DIDN'T VOTE FOR OBAMA LAST TIME. I DO NOT VOTE FOR THE RIGHT/LEFT PUPPETS IN ANY ELECTION! WHY WOULD YOU ASSUME OTHERWISE?

I would love to know who killed Palfrey among many others. SIDE ISSUE!

Obviously you are not going to understand the significance of these logs. I am wasting my time trying to explain something to you that should be academic. You seem to think that this is only about Obama when point of fact is that the same gov't watchdog groups had to sue the Bush administration for the EXACT SAME THING back in 2006-2007.

I am quite certain that this criminal adminstration would prefer there were more people like you willing to remain oblivious to their chicanery. Fortunately, it doesn't work that way here. This is NOT the EU.

I have said enough. Thanks for reading the post anyway even if you didn't bother to read the sourced material.

White House Visitor Records

There you go!

Here you can even request visitor records to find out if Satan visited the White House to speak with his son the Anti-Christ!

150,000 Rays of Sunlight: More White House Visitor Records Posted Online

In September, the President announced that – for the first time in history – the White House would release visitor records. Today’s posting brings the grand total of records that this White House has released well over a 150,000 record milestone. You can view them all in our Disclosures section. These releases have provided the public an unprecedented look into the activities of the White House.

Today’s release is just one example of the many efforts that were recognized by a consortium of independent outside government reform groups that gave the Administration an A for its first-year actions making government open and transparent—and these actions have also been praised by other outside experts. This Administration’s concrete commitments to openness include issuing the Open Government Directive, putting up more government information than ever before on data.gov and recovery.gov, reforming the government’s FOIA processes, providing on-line access to White House staff financial reports and salaries, issuing an executive order to fight unnecessary secrecy and speed declassification, reversing an executive order that previously limited access to presidential records, and webcasting White House meetings and conferences.

75,000 White House Visitor Records Posted Online

In September, the President announced that – for the first time in history – the White House would release visitor records. Last month, the White House released more than 25,000 visitor records from September 16 to September 30 as provided in the President’s voluntary disclosure policy. Today, we continue to fulfill President’s commitment to transparency by making available more than 75,000 White House visitor records from the month of October.

Like last month, today’s release includes visitor information for the Vice President and his staff at the White House Complex, the names and dates of visitors to the Vice President’s Residence for the official events between October 1 and October 31, and the visitors to the Residence who appear on the daily schedules of the Vice President and Dr. Biden.

In addition, included in today’s release are over 200 pre-Sept 16 visitor records that are responsive to more than 100 specific requests that the White House received from the public during the month of December.

Should I go on? Or do you need to know how many times Bo poops in a day?



[edit on 3/3/2010 by whatukno]

© 2010 WorldNetDaily
The Obama administration boasts of an "unprecedented" transparency in releasing lists of White House visitors – except when the names are politically inconvenient, argues a Washington watchdog group, and except for nearly eight months worth of records, which remain locked away despite multiple legal attempts to pry them loose.

"Not literally, but in the mood of their approach, the administration has said, 'We'll release what we want, when we want,'" claims Chris Farrell, director of research and investigation for Judicial Watch. "When it's convenient, they laud themselves as masters of transparency – except when they don't want to be."

""In the mood of their approach, said the administration, we´ll relese what we want, when we want."

Thats exactly what i said earlier...
Its not what you ask for, its how you ask for it.

Like rude little boys who shout "gimme the damn chocolate", being told by the father "say PLEASE, and i´ll give it to you, and dont forget your manners."

They rush in there..I KNOW MY RIGHTS... IM A CITZEN...gimme the damn files NOW!!!!!
You go in there WANTING to fight the system...and a fight is what yyou get... SO DONT COMPLAIN.
You get more with honey than vinegar..



[edit on 3-3-2010 by andy1972]

Originally posted by whatukno
White House Visitor Records

There you go!

Here you can even request visitor records to find out if Satan visited the White House to speak with his son the Anti-Christ!

150,000 Rays of Sunlight: More White House Visitor Records Posted Online

In September, the President announced that – for the first time in history – the White House would release visitor records. Today’s posting brings the grand total of records that this White House has released well over a 150,000 record milestone. You can view them all in our Disclosures section. These releases have provided the public an unprecedented look into the activities of the White House.

Today’s release is just one example of the many efforts that were recognized by a consortium of independent outside government reform groups that gave the Administration an A for its first-year actions making government open and transparent—and these actions have also been praised by other outside experts. This Administration’s concrete commitments to openness include issuing the Open Government Directive, putting up more government information than ever before on data.gov and recovery.gov, reforming the government’s FOIA processes, providing on-line access to White House staff financial reports and salaries, issuing an executive order to fight unnecessary secrecy and speed declassification, reversing an executive order that previously limited access to presidential records, and webcasting White House meetings and conferences.

75,000 White House Visitor Records Posted Online

In September, the President announced that – for the first time in history – the White House would release visitor records. Last month, the White House released more than 25,000 visitor records from September 16 to September 30 as provided in the President’s voluntary disclosure policy. Today, we continue to fulfill President’s commitment to transparency by making available more than 75,000 White House visitor records from the month of October.

Like last month, today’s release includes visitor information for the Vice President and his staff at the White House Complex, the names and dates of visitors to the Vice President’s Residence for the official events between October 1 and October 31, and the visitors to the Residence who appear on the daily schedules of the Vice President and Dr. Biden.

In addition, included in today’s release are over 200 pre-Sept 16 visitor records that are responsive to more than 100 specific requests that the White House received from the public during the month of December.

Should I go on? Or do you need to know how many times Bo poops in a day?



[edit on 3/3/2010 by whatukno]

NO. Please go on. I would be interested to know by what measure you and the Obama administration think is acceptable to withhold ANY of the logs? So HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of names have been released since Sept and ONLY 200 from before between the time that he was inaugerated and September? AND YOU DON'T FIND THAT DISPARITY A BIT ODD?

You people are unbelievable. The G-DAMN logs belong to the public. Quit apologizing for your sacred cow. The courts have already ruled in the citizenry's favor and it makes little difference what propaganda and deception you find on the "White House Blog."

Originally posted by andy1972
reply to post by pumpkinorange

 

Transparency, ok...so its nothing to do with digging the dirt??
They wanna know that everyone who works there earned their job, have their qualifications and is there by hard work, on their own merit.

No, no no, my friend, it's the "logs", they want.
They want to know who visits. By "visits", this means meetings. It's not about going into the backgrounds of anyone. For e.g. I heard that the most frequent "visitor" at one point was the Chairman of GE. Some tv show some months back showed that call logs of the Secy of Treasury indicate he called the same 3 bank execs several times each day.
Just info; folks can connect the dots as they choose.
Transparency and info in govt is always good in a "free" society.
Nothing sinister about asking.

Originally posted by andy1972
Its not what you ask for, its how you ask for it.
Like rude little boys who shout "gimme the damn chocolate", being told by the father "say PLEASE, and i´ll give it to you, and dont forget your manners."
They rush in there..I KNOW MY RIGHTS... IM A CITZEN...gimme the damn files NOW!!!!!

Okay, so, no to this post as well.
There are already systems/channels set up for requesting info from govt establ long ago: FOIA (Freedom of Info Act).
There are 100s/1000s? of folks in govt who are "FOIA officers"; they spend their entire days responding to such requests.
This being said, yhea, every Admin fights some inquiries under "executive privilege" and they usually lose.
Cheney has been mentioned as an example; also the uncovering of secret looyist meetings at the WH was I recall what helped to sink Hillarycare back during the Clinton Admin.

Excellent thread. S & F.

Looks like you've stirred up a couple of the obama administration's staunchest defenders. The more they argue with you, the more you know you are on to something that could potentially damage the obama administration.

However, the logic in play is quite simple and the administration's position on this issue is hard to defend.

If previous administrations have been forced to give out this information, then obama must also release it.

Any failure to do so only creates the impression that the obama administration has something to hide.

And since this IS a conspiracy website ...

[edit on 3/3/2010 by centurion1211]

Originally posted by andy1972

They rush in there..I KNOW MY RIGHTS... IM A CITZEN...gimme the damn files NOW!!!!!
You go in there WANTING to fight the system...and a fight is what yyou get... SO DONT COMPLAIN.
You get more with honey than vinegar..

[edit on 3-3-2010 by andy1972]

My favorite "excuse" for not giving out the requested information - so far:

Paraphrasing - you didn't ask for it in a nice enough way, so we're not giving it to you.

Since when did filing a Freedom of Information Act request become "not nice"?

Sounds like next time obama needs to have an adult answer the door ...



[edit on 3/3/2010 by centurion1211]

reply to post by centurion1211


Thanks for the S+F. Yeah, at least I have found a couple of other sane people on this thread who understand the importance of FOIA. I feel like I am in the Twilight Zone sometimes the way some people rationalize and apologize for their own gov't hiding public information. So many of the Obama apologists have failed to realize the history and precedent behind Judicial Watch's FOIA suits as well as the more liberal watchdog group CREW in that they started back when the Bush regime was in power.

And the notion that someone should have to ask "nicely" for this information is manfestly ludicris. Even with the FOIA people are still having to sue to get this information.