Judicial Watch Obtains Documents Detailing the Cost to Taxpayers for Michelle Obama’s Family Trip to Africa

On June 28, 2011, Judicial Watch filed a FOIA request seeking the mission taskings, transportation records, and passenger manifests for Michelle Obama’s Africa trip. Documents were only provided after Judicial Watch filed suit…

Malia Obama Vacations In Mexico With 25 Secret Service Agents

Keeping with the Obama family’s penchant for costly vacations, the president’s 13-year-old daughter enjoyed spring break in a country plagued by so much violence that the State Department has issued travel warnings to discourage Americans from going there.

Michelle Obama’s August 2010 Vacation in Spain Cost American Taxpayers $467,585 According to Records Obtained by Judicial Watch

Judicial Watch obtained documents from the United States Air Force and the United States Secret Service detailing costs associated with Michelle Obama’s controversial August 2010 vacation to Spain.  According to a Judicial Watch analysis, the records indicate a total combined cost of at least $467,585.

Judicial Watch Sues U.S. Air Force for Records Detailing Costs of Michelle Obama’s August 2010 ‘Whirlwind’ Vacation to Spain

Judicial Watch announced that it filed a lawsuit on March 5, 2012, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against the United States Air Force to obtain records detailing Michelle Obama’s controversial August 2010 vacation to Spain.  Overall, Judicial Watch is seeking information pertaining to the costs to taxpayers for this vacation as well as any indication of official business conducted by Mrs. Obama while she was in the country (Judicial Watch v. USAF (No. 1:12-cv-00345)).

Judicial Watch Sues Air Force and Secret Service for Records Detailing Michelle Obama’s Family Ski Vacation to Aspen, Colorado

Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Air Force and U.S. Secret Service (No. 1:12-cv-00866)) on May 31, 2012 against the United States Air Force and the United States Secret Service to obtain records detailing Michelle Obama’s February 2012 President’s Day weekend ski vacation to Aspen, Colorado with her two daughters.

Michelle Obama’s Family Ski Trip to Aspen, Colorado Cost Taxpayers at Least $83 Thousand Say Records Obtained by Judicial Watch

Judicial Watch obtained records from the United States Air Force and the United States Secret Service detailing Michelle Obama’s February 2012 President’s Day weekend ski vacation to Aspen, Colorado, with her two daughters.

2010 Marred By Debt, Waste, Costly Hawaiian Vacation

As U.S. taxpayers dish out millions for President Obama’s lavish Hawaiian vacation crushing year-end statistics reveal unprecedented government debt and a myriad of waste that should outrage all Americans.

1) All records of communications with or about the following individuals:

 A) White House Domestic Policy Council Cecilia Muñoz; and,

B) National Council of La Raza President Janet Murguía;

 2) All records of communications with or about the following groups:

A) Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice; and,

B) National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

The time frame for the request was December 8, 2011 through the present.  The topic areas specified were “undocumented immigrant(s)” and “housing discrimination.”  Judicial Watch undertook the investigation after a March 4th protest in Alabama where Obama administration officials marched arm in arm with members of radical amnesty groups to protest state Senate Bill 56 as well as photo ID laws nationwide.  La Raza, whose former immigration director Cecilia Munoz is now White House Domestic Policy Counsel, organized the event in conjunction with reverends Al Sharpton, director of the National Action Network (NAN), and Jesse Jackson, Jr., leader of the recently disgraced Rainbow PUSH Coalition.  Secretary Duncan’s secret meeting with Raza President Murguia appears to have addressed No Child Left Behind waivers.  La Raza is reportedly concerned that minorities will lose special treatment and funding as Obama lets states opt out of the Bush-era reading standards. http://prospect.org/article/coming-battle-over-nclb-exemptions

Today, Judicial Watch received 46 pages of responsive documents from one small division of USDA called the Food & Nutrition Service (FNS).  The records released today show that FNS spent $2,350.97 to send Vincent Loran, the division’s Training Administrator, to Skokie, Ill., for Betances’ three-day course.  Additionally, the records show:

•  a January 17, 2012 email in which Loran seeks Betances’ blessing, referring to him as father, and professing his love.
• an October 10, 2011 email in which Loran promises Betances he will keep secret a video of a training session shot on USDA premises which the agency to date refuses to release.

Today’s disclosure came in response to Judicial Watch’s July 10 administrative appeal, which challenged that agency’s initial release of only six heavily-redacted pages.  A response to Judicial Watch’s initial FOIA was due on June 18.  A response to Judicial Watch’s appeal was due on August 10.

According to lobbying records kept by the U.S. Congress, Alaska Airlines has spent more than one million dollars since the fall of 2009 lobbying the U.S. Congress, DOT, the White House, the National Transportation Safety Board, and the U.S. Customs & Border Patrol for the exemption.  Federal Elections Commission records show that the airline’s political action committee, Alaska Air Group, gave $2000 toward Blumenauer’s 2012 primary race.  The airline itself gave Blumenauer’s campaign $3,000 as well.

Judicial Watch filed the attached FOIA request on November 9, 2011 following Blumenauer’s appearance at a Cincinnatti rally to promote the Obama administration’s “American Jobs Act.”  DOT released responsive documents to Judicial Watch on June 12, a month after it had granted Alaska Air the sought-after exemption.

• DOT picks Alaska Airlines: http://www.dot.gov/affairs/2012/dot5512.html
• WSJ on the rule’s history: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704754304576096322639404288.html
• The Economist offers analysis: http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2012/05/ronald-reagan-washington-national-airport
• Characterizing Obama’s Jobs Act as a Campaign Tool: http://www.talkingsides.com/blogs/2011/10/21/congress-just-a-campaign-tool-to-obama
• U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR-3) and Cincinnatti Mayor Mark Mallory host a Jobs Act rally: http://www.cincinnati-oh.gov/mayor/pages/-44544-/
• Lettermarking is the new earmarking: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/06/us/politics/congress-appears-to-be-trying-to-get-around-earmark-ban.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1

Overpayments discovered between 1/1/2012 – 3/31/2012:

Overpaid             Recovered       Outstanding balance

$452,652.74     $391,305.71     $61,347.03

Previously reported overpayments which remain uncollected as of 3/31/2012:

Overpaid             Recovered since the last report        Outstanding balance

$1,350,710.29     $7,007.14                                             $1,343,703.15

*Collection is NOT underway respecting $362,484.63 of the above because FEMA is unclear about the legality of recovering improperly issued Emergency Food & Shelter funds.*

Uncollected overpayments referred to Treasury for tax garnishment:

• $19,239.54 paid by FEMA to an INDIVIDUAL in Seabrook, TX for “Individuals & Households Payments.”  DHS-IG first reported the improper payment on November 11, 2008.
• $38,563.00 paid by the U.S. Coast Guard to a Miami, FL entity for a product or service.  DHS-IG first reported the overpayment on September 25, 2010.

• TIGTA did not possess any employment records for Anthony Yemoh Smith;
• The agency could neither confirm nor deny the existence of an investigation into Smith’s misconduct;
• A total of 1,720 pages comprising 15 Reports of Investigation (ROI) respecting the falsification of travel vouchers by other IRS employees were located for the period of August 1, 2010 through the date of the request.  However no part of them could be released because the privacy interests of the employees falsifying travel vouchers outweighed any public interest in the thefts they conducted in the course of their employment with the federal government.

On May 14, 2012, Judicial Watch administratively appealed TIGTA’s denial since the pertinent facts had all been aired in open court.  TIGTA affirmed its blanket denial on June 15, amending only its previous failure to acknowledge the existence of an ROI into Smith’s misconduct.  Additionally, in upholding its earlier decision to withhold all records in the 15 other fraud investigations identified, the agency – charged in part with supervising the IRS – said it had no way of distinguishing the guilty from the innocent because it was a separate entity from the IRS.  It also cited a statute designed to protect information submitted by taxpayers in filing returns each spring.

Nevertheless, according to court documents, Smith’s on-the-job misconduct was discovered in August 2010.  In the course of the investigation, TIGTA agent Kevin Davies also learned that Smith had been arrested in 2007 for obstructing a police officer.  Davies informed IRS Territory Manager Cindy Halpert and Group Manager Richard Ledger as well as Assistant United States Attorney Mark Crooks.  AUSA Crooks declined to prosecute Smith.  Ms. Halpert apparently fired him.  Because of TIGTA’s secrecy, it is not clear how much money the IRS has lost to travel voucher fraud among employees nor if any stolen funds have been recovered

On Thursday, June 7, 2012 Judicial Watch sued the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for release of documents requested on January 12 and January 25 relating to Richard Cordray’s appointment as the agency’s director without Senate confirmation. In response to the lawsuit, the agency produced a dozen pages of responsive documents, supplementing a March 30 initial production of 222 pages. The supplemental release (described by the agency as final with respect to this matter) came via emails to Judicial Watch sent at 9:59 p.m. and 10:19 p.m. on Friday, June 8th. The new documents reveal that:

• A Barney Frank staffer named Kate harbored unanswered questions regarding the president’s legal authority to appoint a CFPB director in the manner that he did. The actual questions are redacted from the documents CFPB produced. However, many legal analysts have said that, even assuming the Senate was in recess at the time of the appointment the way the President characterized it, the CFPB did not have a vacancy for purposes of the Constitution’s recess clause because, as a new agency, it had not yet had a director. (CFPB-2012-037, p. 10-11).

• President Obama contracted with a vendor untold funds to hold an event (likely Cordray’s swear-in ceremony) in the CFPB amphitheater on Friday, January 6th. Equipment included six to eight folding tables, making it likely that 30 or more people attended the event, although no pictures have yet to be disclosed. (CFPB-2012-042, p. 4).

The following column by Congressman Spencer Bachus (AL -6) advocates this appointment was inconsistent with the Constitution. Congressman Bachus is Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. Click here for the column.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)  released on September 28, 2012 an additional 17 pages in full and 8 pages in part pursuant to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed against the agency by Judicial Watch, Inc. on June 7, 2012.  The FOIA sought all records surrounding Richard Cordray’s “recess” appointment as director of the new agency, created under the auspices of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.

Along with its disclosure of 25 pages, CFPB admitted to withholding 880 pages more, citing unexplained confidentiality, privacy, and law enforcement concerns.  In support of this decision, the agency wrote:

Pursuant to our agreement, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“Bureau”) has conducted an additional search for records responsive to your client’s Freedom of lnformation

Act requests dated January 12, 2012, and January 25,2012. Attached to this letter, please find an additional 25 pages of records responsive to your requests. Of these records, the Bureau has

determined that 17 pages are releasable in full and that 8 pages are releasable in part pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(5) and/or (b)(6). An additional 880 pages have been withheld in full pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(5), (b)(6), and/or (b)(7).

CFPB has until October 26 to justify its withholdings in court.

According to a February 13 editorial in the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Department of Justice pressured the city to withdraw its case from the U.S. Supreme Court, where the case had been slated for argument.  Apparently, federal officials feared the city would lose again, setting unfavorable precedent for the Obama administration.  According to the paper, if the landlords won, the “disparate impact” theory would no longer be a government tool for punishing instances of racism it perceived but could not prove.  Rather, any over-regulation which resulted in less housing for ethnic or racial minorities would now be vulnerable to being struck down under the same theory.

What follows is a run-down of responses so far:

The City of St. Paul has remained silent in violation of its Data Practices Act;

The U.S. Department of Justice on April 4 asked Judicial Watch to clarify which St. Paul case it was referring to and on June 11 asked whether it meant “and” at the place in the Freedom of Information Act request where Judicial Watch said “or”;

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on May 3 asked Judicial Watch to explain what it meant by “disparate impact,” even though the agency published a rule defining the term on November 16, 2011, 9 day after the U.S. Supreme Court granted the city’s petition for certiorari (agreed to hear the case);

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (the guardian of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s assets) told Judicial Watch on April 30 that it had found a 208-page document responsive to Judicial Watch’s request but that it was withholding it in full based on a trade secrets privilege.  Judicial Watch administratively appealed that determination on May 25.  A decision in that appeal is due on June 22.

On Saturday, December 3, 2011, Federal Aviation Administrator Randy Babbitt was pulled over on suspicion of drunken driving in Fairfax, Virginia after a trooper saw him driving on the wrong side of the road, per an AP report published in USA Today. Click here to view the report. LaHood said in the AP report that he was disappointed to learn of Babbitt’s arrest through a press release issued on Monday, December 5, 2011 by the Fairfax City Police Department.

Babbitt resigned on Tuesday, December 6, 2011 facing drunk driving charges on evidence he had consumed just under the legal limit for that state, according to AVWeb, a pilot newsletter.  Three weeks later, Judicial Watch filed a FOIA request (link below) seeking all records relating to Babbitt’s DUI and dismissal.  Fulfillment of the request was due on January 26.  Following many excuses, the agencies produced all responsive records on April 30.  On May 10, a Virginia judge dismissed the charges against Babbitt based on dashboard video which the judge characterized as involving a “normal” left turn, despite Babbitt’s failure to use a turn signal, the pilot newsletter said.