Justice Department is Silent About Why it Has Failed to Preserve Comey Emails in FOIA Case

The Department of Justice has refused to take any steps to preserve work-related emails former FBI Director James Comey had on a personal account that The Daily Caller News Foundation and Judicial Watch requested under the Freedom of Information Act, the conservative watchdog will file in court Friday.

“There is nothing but complete silence about why the FBI has failed to take steps to preserve records responsive to DCNF’s request,” Judicial Watch attorney Michael Bekesha will write in the filing before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Judicial Watch and TheDCNF filed a joint lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act on April 25 seeking records, including emails, Comey produced regarding meetings and conversations he had with then-President Barack Obama, then-Vice President Joe Biden and a variety of other political figures.

Following the Justice Department Inspector General’s June 2018 report, which disclosed that Comey used a personal Gmail account for official FBI business, both groups sought a preservation order to assure no records related to their FOIA requests were lost or destroyed.