WIRED analyzed Border Patrol use-of-force reports alongside body cam footage and public records to identify masked agents involved in incidents with US citizens. We found hundreds of names. www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d73...

Babe wake up! A new OLC memo just dropped saying the Presidential Records Act is unconstitutional! (Really) www.justice.gov/olc/media/14...

A Minnesota journalist is challenging a 3,000 foot restriction on flying near DHS assets on First Amendment grounds.

JUST IN: Judge Timothy Kelly declines Trump admin's bid to dismiss suit claiming HHS shuttering of #FOIA office broke law by halting requests. But he doesnt resolves case and wants updated record. Doc: ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show...

Some Northwest police departments in the past two weeks have expanded their use of a program that uses AI to write police reports from body cameras. An extensive survey of LE in our region shows they may just be the first.

📢 BREAKING 📢 We're suing to get answers about Medicare's AI experiment that could affect millions of seniors' care. Read more about our FOIA lawsuit: www.eff.org/press/relea...

Is AI hurting the access citizens have to their government via the Freedom of Information Act? Maybe. The state of Michigan is using contracted artificial intelligence software to respond to some FOIA requests — in ways that do not appear to comply with state law. www.freep.com/story/news/p...

A tidbit: @mayorbowser.dc.gov has signed the emergency bill passed by the D.C. Council that requires MPD to disclose body camera footage from local officers patrolling with federal agents if/when they fire their guns or use serious force. It'll be in effect until June 21.

Today is the one year anniversary of DOGE's raid on the US Institute of Peace. DC Metropolitan police literally broke open doors at the institute's privately-owned building to let Trump officials bully their way in. Read about my lawsuit to retrieve the body camera footage, and what it revealed:

With the start of Sunshine Week, DOJ has still not posted its FY25 #FOIA report, which the government itself says needed to be posted by March 1 🤦

NEW: RCFP attorneys are representing photojournalist @roblevine82.bsky.social in a challenge to a nation-wide FAA flight restriction that prohibits drones in a bubble 3k feet wide x 1k feet high around all DHS vehicles www.rcfp.org/levine-faa-d...

A Minnesota photojournalist (with help from @rcfp.org) is suing the FAA over a rule restricting drone flights within 3,000 feet of Homeland Security assets — including vehicles. But drone pilots have no way of knowing whether an unmarked ICE vehicle is in their vicinity. For @minnesotareformer.com

Happy #sunshineweek! Here are some gems from our investigation into 339 court dockets showing that government lawyers explicitly blamed the Trump staffing cuts for FOIA delays at at least 13 agencies. Free link below.

It’s 2026 and Sunshine Week ☀️is here once again! The Foilies, a project from EFF and MuckRock shines a light on government agencies and officials that have demonstrated an utter disdain for transparency. Check out the “honorees” for the The Foilies 2026: eff.org/deeplinks/2...

SunshineFest 2026! #FOIA

😞

Happy #FOIAFriday! Just got a response to a FOIA request I submitted to DOJ's Criminal Division in .... *checks notes* 2016!

1. Here's the tense moment when USIP outside counsel George Foote comes face-to-face with Kenneth Jackson, the Trump-installed new president of USIP, and the DOGE team. Jackson refuses to shake Foote's hand. “I’m asking the questions, not you,” Jackson says. DOGE staffers won't ID themselves.

So proud to be part of the legal team that won this bodycam video for @marisakabas.bsky.social! Read her story and watch the videos -->

With free legal help from @rcfp.org attorneys, @marisakabas.bsky.social obtained almost six hours of bodycam footage that shed light on a DOGE takeover of the US Institute of Peace building. Read Kabas's latest reporting on the raid after reviewing the newly disclosed videos:

Body cam footage shows Kenneth Jackson, the Trump-installed new USIP President; Laken Rapier, Jackson’s Chief-of-Staff; DOGE workers Nate Cavanaugh and Justin Fox; and DOGE lawyer Justin Aimonetti were present at the raid. MPD let them in through a side door, despite USIP staff's objections.

SCOOP — Body camera footage obtained as a result of my lawsuit against the DC Metropolitan PD confirms DOGE and the Trump administration openly admitted they were entering private property when they raided the building on March 17, 2025. That didn't stop MPD from breaking down the doors. My report:

If DHS's own AI #FOIA chatbot drafts a request, must the agency process it without complaint? 🤔 There are some good uses for AI in FOIA. This is not a good one. DHS's own chatbot recommends asking for "all records . . . related to . . ." which the government constantly argues is too broad

portrait of the second trump administration

MPD body cam footage from DOGE raid on US Institute of Peace RECEIVED 😎 I'll be watching and sharing news and takeaways in the coming days. Stay tuned!

NEW: We obtained 911 audio from the Texas detention center housing hundreds of immigrant kids and their parents. Since mid-September, EMS crews have been dispatched to Dilley at least 11 times to treat children in medical distress. Burning fevers. Low oxygen. Seizures. A broken leg. My report:

🚨 We're hiring two positions to expand @rcfp.org's Local Legal Initiative, which provides journalists free legal services to pursue investigative stories in their communities. ➡️ Minnesota LLI attorney ➡️ LLI staff attorney View the positions and apply:

An NPR investigation finds the public database of Epstein files is missing dozens of pages related to sexual abuse accusations against President Trump. n.pr/4qTItsU

404 Media found multiple users of Zello, an app previously used by Jan. 6 insurrectionists, linked to ICE officials. An officer at the scene of an CBP official shooting a US citizen also used the app. @evystadium.bsky.social has more. Scoop by @josephcox.bsky.social: www.404media.co/how-ice-and-...

Our reaction to Judge Cannon's order "permanently" barring the release of Jack Smith's Mar-a-Lago report. knightcolumbia.org/content/judg...

The Trump admin claims they have been arresting the worst of the worst. But the Guardian, working with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press sued the govt for docs that show that isn't true. 77% of people who entered deportation proceedings in 2025 had no criminal conviction My latest:

NEW: DHS left embedded comments in a PDF outlining its plans to warehouse immigrants, identifying the architects and laying bare the gross extent of its regulatory capture. Great scoop by @regret.bsky.social: www.wired.com/story/metada...

BREAKING — WE WON! DC Superior Court Judge Darlene Soltys ordered the DC Metropolitan Police to produce ALL body cam footage of the March 2025 DOGE raid on the US Institute of Peace within 14 days. Thanks to my @rcfp.org lawyers for their tireless work. Details on thehandbasket.co later today!

When Kennedy was running for president in 2023, @aliswenson.bsky.social and I wrote about his trip to Samoa and the impact his work has had on people in the US and abroad. Our reporting then prompted my FOIA to the state department. We now have some of the records I asked for thanks to @rcfp.org

I filed an open records request with the US State Department for these records in 2023. We were still waiting for them last year, and @rcfp.org sued on our behalf. Thank you to the Reporters Committee for helping us shine a light www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

RFK Jr said during his Senate confirmation hearings that his trip to Samoa in 2019 ahead of a devastating measles outbreak had “nothing to do with vaccines." Documents obtained by @us.theguardian.com and @apnews.com undermine that testimony. Details here, by me and @aliswenson.bsky.social ⬇️

Proud of the #FOIA team at @rcfp.org that pried these records lose!

cool. glad we protected her identity at least www.404media.co/the-doj-reda...

Important reporting here from @charliesavage.bsky.social ⬇️

As a result of @rcfp.org's unsealing, we now know that DOJ "failed to tell a magistrate judge about a 1980 law protecting journalists in its application materials for a warrant to search a Washington Post reporter’s home last month as part of a leak investigation" www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/u...

UPDATE: the court has ordered the government to respond to @rcfp.org's unsealing application by tomorrow (Jan 28). A hearing is set for Feb 4. Docket here: www.courtlistener.com/docket/72146...

NEW: Mother Jones and other outlets fought to unseal documents that show that the Trump administration targeted students for Pro-Palestinian speech. We won.

A major shoutout to our brilliant attorneys at @rcfp.org and Klaris Law! Thank you for all your help. 🙏

This morning, @rcfp.org asked EDVA to expedite briefing in our unsealing application so that the public can see the government's affidavit before the Rule 41(g) hearing in early February. Filings here: www.rcfp.org/litigation/i...

NEW: @rcfp.org is urging a federal court to order the government to return electronic devices taken from @washingtonpost.com reporter Hannah Natanson’s home, arguing that the seizures are unlawful.

Breaking news: Government officials may not examine electronic devices seized from Post reporter Hannah Natanson until litigation stemming from the search of her home is settled, a federal judge ruled.

NEW: In a friend-of-the-court brief, @rcfp.org urged a federal court to reject the Pentagon’s new press access policy and supported @nytimes.com's lawsuit challenging its constitutionality.

There’s no obvious reason why the search warrant & affidavits should be categorically withheld, and there are lots of reasons to be skeptical that the search was consistent with constitutional, statutory, and regulatory limits. Glad to see this motion from @rcfp.org medialaw.org/wp-content/u...

News: Last night, @rcfp.org filed a motion in EDVA to unseal records related to the WaPo reporter warrant. Currently all of the judicial records are sealed, including the affidavit purporting to justify the government’s actions. Read our application here: www.rcfp.org/fbi-raid-was...

We have a lot of lawsuits demanding documents on the boil. This is one of them: www.rcfp.org/litigation/c...