President Barack Obama promised to run the most transparent government in history. Has he made good his promise? With a federal judge demanding to see his government-wide foreign-aid-policy order the President implemented three years ago, as reported by Politico, the answer must certainly be no.
This isn’t even confidential information. So why does the president want to withhold it’s disclosure? There is no word on this, but White House lawyers are claiming executive privilege to keep the document from seeing the light of day.
“Defendants shall produce to the Court for in camera inspection by November 15, 2013, a copy of the Presidential Policy Directive on Global Development,” said U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle in a one-page order.
Whether White House Lawyers will worm past it is another matter, but this is merely one of many documents watchdog groups are demanding from “the most transparent government in history.”
Just last month, U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell ruled that this document was not even subject to FOIA, and should be classified as another presidential record. None of this document is classified, so why the hush-hush is up for the judges and watchdogs to ferret through and figure out. It is difficult getting the truth, even from the most transparent government in the world.
Image source: ABC News