Judicial Watch Sues State Dept for Records on Congressional Delegation to Cuba Led by Democratic Reps. Omar and Jayapal

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. State Department for all records related to the secretive trip in February 2024 of a Congressional Progressive Caucus delegation to communist Cuba led by Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:24-cv-01950).

Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after the State Department failed to adequately respond to a February 28, 2024, FOIA request for:

All records related to the Congressional Delegation to Cuba in February 2024. For purposes of clarification, the delegation included Rep. Ilhan Omar, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, and others (please see https://news.yahoo.com/were-members-u-congressional-progressive-200304832.html). This request includes, but is not limited to, all related agendas, briefing materials, and records of communication.

The trip had not been reported in Cuban state media until the Miami Herald reported on February 27, 2024, that Omar and Jayapal led a delegation of about a dozen people who visited the communist island which has been under U.S. embargo for more than 60 years. The delegation to Cuba included a congressional staffer from the office of Rep. Barbara Lee’s (D-CA) office.

Jayapal, who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and Omar have criticized the embargo and have advocated for the removal of the Communist-controlled Cuba from the U.S. list of nations which sponsor terrorism.

The New York Post reported in February: “The mysterious trip, which took place during a week when the House was in recess, also overlapped with a visit to Havana by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.” 

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, the son of Cuban immigrants, wrote on X: “Pro-Hamas members of Marxist congressional squad just returned from a secret visit with anti-American dictatorship in Cuba.”

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) wrote on X: “It’s outrageous that Members of Congress would visit a country that jails, abuses, and murders their citizens and supports Iran, Russia and Communist China against our interests. Perhaps their time would be better spent listening to the Cubans crossing our southern border & risking their lives on makeshift rafts to find out why they’re fleeing Communism.”

“Extreme Leftist members of Congress traveled to Cuba to provide aid and comfort the terrorist-supporting, murderous Communist regime. What is the Biden-Harris administration hiding about this scandalous, taxpayer-funded trip?” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

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