The Independent View: Judicial Watch Sues ODNI to Release Report on Russia's Meddling in Foreign Elections

Because the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) did not answer a standard Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, the Government Watchdog Judicial Watch has filed a Lawsuit in Federal Court demanding that the ODNI comply and release a "legally mandated, unclassified report on Russia's meddling in foreign elections," stated the group on Nov. 28th.

“The Obama administration’s politicized intelligence community promoted the story of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russians to influence the 2016 presidential election but refuses to release any concrete evidence,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The Deep State intelligence establishment continues to be in a cover-up mode on Russia," he said. "This illegal secrecy seems designed to protect the Obama/Clinton administration and to undermine the Trump administration. President Trump may want to ask his appointees what they are hiding about Russia.”

The Report on Russia is Mandated by Law in Section 502 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016. It states, “Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of National Intelligence shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees an intelligence community assessment on the funding of political parties and nongovernmental organizations in former Soviet states and countries in Europe by the Russian Security Service since January 1, 2016.”

In addition, the Law requires the ODNI to produce an Unclassified Report that would be available to the Public through a standard FOIA Request. Judicial Watch reported that it had also filed a Lawsuit back in March, Judicial Watch v. Central Intelligence Agency, to obtain an "unclassified report assessing Russia's interference in foreign elections."

House Representative Mike Turner (R, OH-10th District) has been requesting the Release of the Unclassified Report, as well, and in a letter to the Obama White House in 2016, he wrote, “The fact that the [Obama] administration is picking and choosing the information it releases and who they release it to ought to give everybody concern that the administration is manipulating this." According to Rep. Turner, the report "is critical for a better understanding of what Moscow is up to in elections overseas," reported Judicial Watch.