Petition Asks Trump to Intervene on FBI’s Denial of FOIA Request on Hillary Clinton

By David Codrea

USA – -(Ammoland.com)- “FBI says lack of public interest in Hillary emails justifies withholding documents,” The Washington Times reported Tuesday. Attorney and Law Flog blogger Ty Clevenger, who “has been trying to get Mrs. Clinton and her personal attorneys disbarred for their handling of her official emails during her time as secretary of state” and for perjury, filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request almost a year-and-a-half ago with the FBI and Department of Justice for related documents.

The response from FBI records management section chief David M. Hardy (not to be confused with Second Amendment attorney and author David T. Hardy, himself a FOIA requester), was telling:

“You have not sufficiently demonstrated that the public’s interest in disclosure outweighs personal privacy interests of the subject.”

“Frankly, I am stunned that I should have to explain why my request pertains to a matter of public interest,” Clevenger replied. “At the time of the perjury referral, Mrs. Clinton was the Democratic nominee for President of the United States, a former U.S. Secretary of State, and a former U.S. Senator. As one would expect, the referral made national news.

“As I wrote at the time, I seriously considered writing that letter in crayon,” Clevenger elaborated. “In retrospect, I should have. This morning I received a letter from the same FBI flunky informing me that the feds still did not consider it a matter of public interest. I wonder how much practice it took to get that stupid.”

The fact that careerists with the FBI still feel secure enough under the Trump administration to keep swamp levels rising should trouble all who voted for the president because they believe in the agenda he articulated while campaigning. Of particular concern to gun owner rights advocates:

• While his candidacy was being considered, FBI Director Christopher Wray used the same  language as confirmed gun-grabber Sen. Richard Blumenthal about using “common sense … legislation” to combat “gun violence.”
• The FBI recently admitted that it screened all Americans seeking to lawfully purchase a firearm against the Terrorist Screening Database (“TSDB”) upon submission of the ATF Form 4473” (despite no authorization).

Seeing that Wray reports to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who has enjoyed strong gun owner support throughout his political career, and that Sessions reports to Donald Trump, who would be back to developing properties if not for gun owners, Hardy’s snotty dismissal of legitimate core constituency concerns should not be allowed to stand. To that end, Clevenger has created a petition addressed to Director Wray, AG Sessions and President Trump, asking them to:

“Tell the FBI that the public wants the Hillary Clinton records released.”

I signed it. I encourage you to please do so as well, and to be a force multiplier and recruit some friends to follow suit.

UPDATE: A second petition has been announced, this one going directly to the White House. Please take a moment to sign it as well.

UPDATE: A word about some of the comments…

About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.

In addition to being a field editor/columnist at GUNS Magazine and associate editor for Oath Keepers, he blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.