Seth Rich FOIA case filings May 2, 2022, Huddleston v. Federal Bureau of Investigation, “FBI concluded that the foreign government agency at issue here expected confidentiality”
” So why would a “street robbery” investigation need to be classified?”…Attorney Ty Clevenger July 22, 2020
Seth Rich FOIA case filings May 2, 2022, Huddleston v. Federal Bureau of Investigation, “FBI concluded that the foreign government agency at issue here expected confidentiality”
There were multiple filings in Huddleston v. Federal Bureau of Investigation May 2, 2022.
The FBI and its FOIA staff continue to make excuses for not releasing data regarding Seth Rich and his laptop.
The following is typical and scary.
FIFTH DECLARATION OF MICHAEL G. SEIDEL
“EXEMPTION (B)(7)(D): CONFIDENTIAL SOURCE INFORMATION ( 42) Plaintiff contends on page 29 of his Opposition that there is more than enough bad faith to waive Exemption (b)(7)(D)-4 as the FBI and CIA are conspiring with foreign agents or foreign governments for the purpose of influencing domestic politics and specific to this case, the American public has a right to know whether the FBI and the CIA conspired with foreign agents or governments to hide the source of the DNC email leak. Plaintiff does not articulate in his Opposition any further challenges to the FBI's withholdings pursuant to FOIA Exemption 7(0), specifically in relation to FOIA Exemption Coded Categories (b )(7)(0)-1 through (b )(7)(0 )-3.
(8)(7)(0)-4: INFORMATION PROVIDED BY A FOREIGN GOVERNMENT AGENCY UNDER IMPLIED CONFIDENTIALITY (43) As referenced in the Fourth Seidel declaration at 11152-155, the FBI asserted FOIA Exemption coded category (b)(7)(O)-4 to withhold information provided by foreign government agency authorities under an implied assurance of confidentiality. The FBI has many agreements with foreign governments under which national security and criminal law enforcement information is exchanged. The FBI concluded that the foreign government agency at issue here expected confidentiality in its dealings with the FBI and with regard to the information it provided to the FBI is based on the Foreign Government Information Classification Guide # I ("G-1 Guide"). As previously stated, the G-1 Guide governs classification of foreign government information that foreign governments have asked the FBI to protect over the course of time. The FBI uses the G-1 Guide to determine the level and duration of derivative classification of foreign government information, including unmarked internal FBI documents which are being reviewed for possible classification. The FBI has conducted the necessary reviews of this material and determined that the FBI properly concluded that the foreign government agency whose identity and information were protected within FOIA Therefore, the FBI properly asserted FOIA Exemption (b)(7)(O)-4 on the records at issue herein.”
“EXEMPTION (B )(1 )- CLASSIFIED INFORMATION (28) Plaintiff challenges the FBI's assertion of Exemption I. He questions the applicability of national security exemptions to a robbery investigation and speculates that if the FBI possesses records indicating CIA fabricated Guccifer 2.0 or reveal Seth Rich deliberately leaked DNC emails to Wikileaks, that such matters are criminal and national security exemptions would not apply. Plaintiff also speculates that perhaps the FBI and CIA " stiffed a call" and utilized foreign actors to fabricate a pretext for a national security investigation. Plaintiff asks the Court not to overrule Exemption l at this point, but to permit further discovery and conduct an in camera review.
(29) As referenced in ,i,i 76-93 of the Fourth Seidel declaration, I reviewed the classified records in accordance with the procedural and substantive standards articulated in Executive Order ("E.O.") 13526, which governs the classification and protection of information that affects the national security, and the FOIA statute, 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(l), which protects from disclosure records that are: a) specifically authorized under criteria established by an Executive Order to be kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy; and b) are in fact properly classified pursuant to such Executive Order. I determined that the release of the withheld information could reasonably be expected to cause serious damage to the national security and is therefore properly classified at the "Secret" level pursuant to E.O. 13526, §§ 1.4(c) and l.4(d), and is exempt from disclosure.”