CNN’s The Lead host Jake Tapper devoted a segment for the second time in a week to blasting the State Department’s persistent issues with transparency on Monday as this one dealt with a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request concerning Hillary Clinton that won’t be fulfilled until after the November presidential election.
The topic involves International Business Times reporter David Sirota requesting documents pertaining to Clinton’s role in brokering and supporting the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) while secretary of state (which she’s since flip-flopped on) and how the request's original fulfillment date of April 2016 was now bumped until November 30 that was marked by a State Department official as November 31.
Tapper began the segment by nothing that this roadblock is another story that comes “at odds with President Obama's much ballyhooed pledge to be the most transparent administration in history.”
After adding that Clinton “vouched for” the deal “as secretary of state no fewer than 45 times between 2010 and 2013 and called it the gold standard of all trade deals” before deciding that it wouldn’t be a good idea after all, Tapper argued that “Clinton's role or lack thereof” in TPP “is certainly in the public interest”:
Now, Clinton's role or lack thereof in the behind the scenes formation of this trade deal has been of real interest. Almost a year ago, last July, the senior editor for investigations at the International Business Times David Sirota filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the State Department for then-Secretary Clinton’s correspondences relating to the Pacific trade deal. Now, this is certainly in the public interest.
When Sirota first filed the request, the estimated time of completion was April and when that did not happen, Tapper revealed that the State Department had told Sirota “his request will not be completed until the end of November after the presidential election.”
As he did last week concerning the State Department’s video editing and Iran deal lies, Tapper laid into the John Kerry-led department for impeding important information from being divulged to the public:
Now, the average Freedom of Information Act request made of the State Department takes 111 days to process. Sirota says this one, according to his calculation, will take 489 days. Now, that means that you as a voter will not information that you want about Hillary Clinton and an important, substantive issue dealing with jobs and trade. You won't have that information, of course, until after you've decided whether or not you will vote for her or Donald Trump.
The State of the Union host closed by citing an Inspector General report from January that called out the State Department for being, in Tapper’s words, “particularly weak among Obama administration agencies when it comes to fulfilling the obligations of this law.”
“[A]t a certain point, one begins to wonder if these weaknesses are deliberate and that these efforts to conceal information do not conceal a certain disdain for the public and your right to know,” he concluded.
In the end, members of the press love to boast about their solemn responsibilities to hold governments and the powerful accountable no matter who they are, but the last seven years have seen an ease off of the proverbial gas and it seems as though much of the press (aside from a scattering of individuals like Tapper) are still willing to go to bat for honesty and transparency.
The transcript of the segment from CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper on June 6 can be found below.
CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper
June 6, 2016
4:22 p.m. EasternJAKE TAPPER: Turning now to an Obama administration decision that we learned about today, one that is, once again, at odds with President Obama's much ballyhooed pledge to be the most transparent administration in history. The issue at hand, Hillary Clinton's role in crafting the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the largest regional trade deal in history brokered while Hillary Clinton led the State Department. It's a deal which the likely Democratic nominee vouched for as secretary of state no fewer than 45 times between 2010 and 2013 and called it the gold standard of all trade deals. But as a candidate with harsh criticism of the trade deal coming from Bernie Sanders and desiring the support of labor unions that oppose the deal, Clinton said she did not work on the controversial trade deal and she came out against it, arguing that Congress should reject it.
HILLARY CLINTON [on the PBS NewsHour, 10/07/15]: As of today, I am not in favor of what I have learned about it. [SCREEN WIPE] I have said from the very beginning that we had to have a trade agreement that would create good American jobs, raise wages, and advance our national security and I still believe that's the high bar we have to meet. [SCREEN WIPE] I don't believe it's going to meet the high bar.
TAPPER: Now, Clinton's role or lack thereof in the behind the scenes formation of this trade deal has been of real interest. Almost a year ago, last July, the senior editor for investigations at the International Business Times David Sirota filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the State Department for then-Secretary Clinton’s correspondences relating to the Pacific trade deal. Now, this is certainly in the public interest. Sanders is not the only Clinton opponent of the trade deal. So is Donald Trump. He's also critical of the trade deal. Last November, State Department official Charlotte Ducket estimated that Sirota’s request would be completed by April of this year. That did not happen, however and today, Sirota announced that the State Department has told him that his request will not be completed until the end of November after the presidential election. Now, the average Freedom of Information Act request made of the3 State Department takes 111 days to process. Sirota says this one, according to his calculation, will take 489 days. Now, that means that you as a voter will not information that you want about Hillary Clinton and an important, substantive issue dealing with jobs and trade. You won't have that information, of course, until after you've decided whether or not you will vote for him or Donald Trump. The Department Inspector General in January noted that the State Department is particularly weak among Obama administration agencies when it comes to fulfilling the obligations of this law. The IG said that the responses to these requests are deficient, that there are not enough personnel at the State Department to carry out all the requests and State Department leaders have not played a meaningful role in making any improvements and at a certain point, one begins to wonder if these weaknesses are deliberate and that these efforts to conceal information do not conceal a certain disdain for the public and your right to know.
