FOIA Litigation Reveals $344,008.28 in Taxpayer Money Spent at Trump Properties

Washington, DC — Over the past year, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and litigation filed by the transparency organization Property of The People (PoTP) has produced receipts and other documents revealing an excess of $344,008.28 in emoluments from US government agencies at Trump properties.  Property of the People is publishing these documents in their entirety […]

FOIA Litigation Reveals Department of Defense Spent $138,093 at Mar-a-Lago and Trump Businesses

Washington, DC — A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit from the transparency organization Property of The People has produced receipts and other documents revealing Department of Defense (DoD) expenditures at Mar-a-Lago and twelve Trump properties during the President’s first six months in office.  The expenses, each made with DoD charge cards, raise serious questions […]

Litigation Reveals GSA Expenditures at Trump International Hotel in DC

Washington, DC — As court arguments in the District of Columbia and Maryland litigate whether patronage by state governments and foreign countries at The Trump International Hotel in DC violates the US Constitution, a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit from the transparency organization Property of The People has now produced receipts revealing expenditures at the […]

Property of the People Forensically Reconstructs Trump’s Undisclosed White House Visitor Logs

— Partnership with ProPublica Makes 8,807 Meeting Records from the Executive Office of the President Searchable Online — Access the Searchable Records HERE Download the Raw Data HERE — Washington, DC — Property of the People, in partnership with ProPublica, published a searchable online database of 8,807 records today comprising meeting logs and calendar entries […]

Paradise Papers: Global Witness Statement on Wilbur Ross’ Offshore Secrecy

Washington, DC — Leaked documents published today by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists expose how offshore tax havens, white-collar professionals, and anonymous company owners hide their finances behind a veil of secrecy.  The documents from Bermuda-based law firm Appleby include evidence of dubious deals and holdings involving the Queen of England, Canadian Prime Minister […]

Trump’s Afghanistan Strategy will Fail if it Does not Take on Corruption

Tonight at 9pm EST President Trump announced his new Afghanistan strategy, Global Witness’ Stephen Carter highlights what is needed for a real change in direction: “The United States is Afghanistan’s key partner and has real potential to help break the cycle of violence there. But its continued presence will change nothing unless the US and […]

FOIA Litigation Produces Letter from Senators Feinstein and Cardin Urging President Obama to Directly Respond to Russian Cyberattacks

Washington, DC —  Today, as a result of ongoing FOIA litigation, the US Department of State and Department of Homeland Security released four (4) documents to the newly formed transparency project Operation 45.  Among the documents released Friday afternoon were records responsive to a November 1, 2016 letter from Senators Dianne Feinstein and Benjamin Cardin wherein the Senators call […]

Activists and Journalists Have Sued the FBI for Withholding Donald Trump’s File

Washington, DC — The nonprofit transparency organization Property of the People has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) seeking the release of Donald J. Trump’s FBI file.  The records requested, which cover a period from June 14, 1946 through June 15, 2015, will shed new light on already known investigations linking […]

New Yorkers Show Solidarity for Reality Winner, NSA Contractor Charged Under Espionage Act

New York, NY — The indictment of NSA contractor Reality Leigh Winner may be the opening salvo in the Trump Administration’s self-described war on leaks. Reality is facing a serious charge under the Espionage Act for allegedly sharing an NSA report on Russian attempts to compromise the 2016 US Presidential election.  Concerned New Yorkers and political activists will show […]

The FBI is Investigating Donald Trump’s Call for Russian Hacking and Espionage

President Trump’s May 9, 2017 letter firing now-former FBI Director James Comey in part reads, “I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation[.]” However, a recent court filing by the Department of Justice on behalf of the FBI in an ongoing FOIA lawsuit plainly indicates the FBI […]

Lawyer Representing Investors Told to Quit ‘Fucking with Mr. Trump’

Newly released documents reveal that the FBI investigated an extortion threat related to a menacing phone call made to bankruptcy attorney Kristopher Hansen on February 18, 2009, wherein a Trump associate using the name “Carmine” threatened Hansen’s wife and children.   Redactions within FBI documents initially indicated that the bureau’s extortion investigation was ongoing as of […]

Peter King Skips Town Hall for Closed Door Meeting, Activists Release Transcript

Massapequa Park, NY – Members of new group, New York’s 2nd District Democrats (NY02 Dems) have been requesting meetings with Rep. Pete King. He has refused to schedule constituent meetings or hold a Town Hall. He has also been deleting dissenting comments from his Facebook page, and blocking constituents. On Friday, February 3, the group joined a […]

A New Vision for Youth Justice: Imagining a World Without Youth Prisons

On any given day 50,000 youth are incarcerated in America’s juvenile justice system.  Seemingly harmless names like “training schools” and “academies” are used to obfuscate an archipelago of youth prison environments sprawled across the US where minors are subjected to restraints, brutal violence, and the use of solitary confinement. A group called the Youth First […]

Oceti Sakowin Tribal Members Sue Trump Administration to Block Dakota Access Pipeline

Washington, DC — Civil liberties group RevolutionTruth along with lead counsel Bruce Afran filed an emergency lawsuit motion this evening in US District Court on behalf of nearly a dozen plaintiffs from several Oceti Sakowin (Great Sioux Nation) tribes. The plaintiffs in Jumping Eagle v. Trump demand an immediate halt to Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) construction beneath Lake […]

Congress Votes for Corruption by Overturning Historic Transparency Law in Gift to Big Oil

Washington, DC — Today’s decision by the Republican-led U.S. Senate to overturn a rule designed to stop oil companies striking corrupt deals with foreign governments is a grave threat to U.S. national security and an astonishing gift to big oil, said Global Witness. The news comes just two days after Rex Tillerson, a longstanding opponent of […]

Hundreds Will Protest Peter King Friday Over Penning of Controversial Muslim Ban

Massapequa Park, NY – Hundreds of Long Island residents and local organizations will come together on Friday, February 3, 2017 for a demonstration outside the office of Congressman Peter King showing unity against President Donald Trump’s Executive Order banning refugees indefinitely from Syria and temporarily from 6 other Muslim majority countries. Protestors will march in front of Peter […]

Republican Vote to Eliminate Landmark Transparency Law Jeopardizes National Security

Washington, DC — Today’s vote by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to undo a rule designed to stop corruption in the oil industry poses a grave threat to U.S. national security, said Global Witness today.  The oil industry is the most corrupt on the planet, according to the OECD. Yet today the House of Representatives voted […]

8 Federal Agencies Sued for Records on Trump Attorney General Pick, Jeff Sessions

WASHINGTON, DC — Multiple federal agencies are in violation of the Freedom of Information Act. Investigative journalist Jason Leopold and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) PhD candidate/Harvard Klein Center for Internet & Society research affiliate, Ryan Shapiro, filed a lawsuit this morning against the Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of State (DOS), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department […]