U.S. Department of Justice Office of Information Policy September 27
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U.S. Department of Justice Office of Information Policy Suite 11050 1425 New York Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20530-0001 Telephone: (202) 514-3642 September 27, 2018 Mr. James Valvo Cause of Action 1875 Eye Street NW, Suite 800 Re: DOJ-2017-002843 (PAO) Washington, DC 20006 D.D.C No. 1:18-cv-1800 [email protected] VRB:TAZ:BRB Dear Mr. Valvo: This is our final response to your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request dated March 2, 2017, and received in this Office on March 8, 2017, in which you requested emails dating from January 20, 2017 and relating to official government business, which were sent to or from a non-governmental email account used by Director of Public Affairs Sarah Isgur Flores. This response is made on behalf of the Office of Public Affairs. Please be advised that a search has been conducted in response to your request, and 180 pages containing records responsive to your request were located. I have determined that 112 pages are appropriate for release with excisions made pursuant to Exemptions 5 and 6 of the FOIA, 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(5) and (b)(6). Exemption 5 pertains to certain inter- and intra-agency communications protected by the deliberative process privilege. Exemption 6 pertains to information the release of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of the personal privacy of third parties. Please note that some of the enclosed pages contain records that are not responsive to your request; these non-responsive records have not been processed, and are marked accordingly. Additionally, sixty-eight pages containing records responsive to your request are being withheld in full pursuant to Exemption 6 of the FOIA, 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(6). As is evident from the enclosed records, Ms. Flores forwarded emails sent to her personal account to her official Department of Justice email account, including through an automatic forward. As such, all of these emails were located pursuant to our search of Ms. Flores’ official Department of Justice email account. For your information, Congress excluded three discrete categories of law enforcement and national security records from the requirements of the FOIA. See 5 U.S.C. § 552 (2012 & Supp. V 2017). This response is limited to those records that are subject to the requirements of the FOIA. This is a standard notification that is given to all our requesters and should not be taken as an indication that excluded records do, or do not, exist. -2- If you have any questions regarding this response, please contact Damon Taaffe of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia at (202) 252-2544. Sincerely, Vanessa R. Brinkmann Senior Counsel Enclosures Document ID: 0.7.13976.5130 From: Shawna Thomas <[email protected]> To: Flores, Sarah Isgur (OPA) <[email protected]> Cc: Bcc: Subject: Re: Follow up Date: Thu Mar 02 2017 09:19:33 EST Attachments: Thanks. On 2 March 2017 at 07:57, Flores, Sarah Isgur (OPA) <[email protected]> wrote: Sessions answered honestly and correctly the questions that he was asked by Franken and Leahy in written testimony. He did not speak to any Russian officials as a surrogate of the campaign nor any Russian official about the 2016 campaign. From: Flores, Sarah Isgur (OPA) [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, March 2, 2017 7:56 AM To: Shawna Thomas <[email protected]>; Flores, Sarah Isgur. (OPA) <Sarah.Isgur. [email protected]> Subject: RE: Follow up It wasn’t false From: Shawna Thomas [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, March 2, 2017 7:50 AM To: Flores, Sarah Isgur. (OPA) <[email protected]> Subject: Follow up Thanks. Are you concerned about his testimony in his confirmation hearing being false? Isn't that perjury? Shawna Thomas DC Bureau Chief - Vice News c: (b)(6) @shawna On Mar 2, 2017, at 6:39 AM, Sarah Isgur Flores <(b)(6) > wrote: cc'ing my do one so you have it. I think its important to note that this was in the regular course of his work on armed services. He met 25 times with ambassadors last year. The day after this meeting, he met with the Ukranian ambassador. The meeting was in his senate office with two defense policy staffers--meaning, this wasn't some secret. It was in the Russell building. We aren't going to do any interviews at this point. He's said the entire time (on the record)--if he needs to recuse himself from something he will. On Thu, Mar 2, 2017 at 12:58 AM, Shawna Thomas <[email protected]> wrote: 1. I'm going to assume the NBC Alert about the AG meeting with the Russian Ambassador during the campaign is accurate but is there anything about the reporting I've seen thus far that you want to push back on? 2. Let's say I pitched you on an interview where Shane Smith, my big big boss, interviews the Attorney General. What would be your reaction to that? 3. Is the AG going to recuse himself from any involvement in the federal investigation into Russia influencing the election? 4. Will the AG resign? 5. If you need me to send this email to a DOJ emaIl address, please tell me. Shawna Thomas DC Bureau Chief - Vice News c: (b)(6) @shawna On Mar 2, 2017, at 12:43 AM, Sarah Isgur Flores <(b)(6) > wrote: Yeah On Thu, Mar 2, 2017 at 12:39 AM -0500, "Shawna Thomas" <[email protected]> wrote: But are you sessions' Spox right now? Shawna Thomas DC Bureau Chief - Vice News c (b) (6) @shawna -- *** Sarah Isgur Flores (b) (6) @whignewtons -- SHAWNA THOMAS DC Bureau Chief, Vice News VICE MEDIA LLC 49 South 2nd Street Brooklyn, NY 11249 w. 202-753-6296 c: (b) (6) @shawna This e-mail transmission may be legally privileged and contains confidential information that is the property of the sender and the organization (VICE MEDIA LLC) for which the sender represents. If you are not the intended recipient and have by accident received this email, please do not retain, disclose, reproduce or distribute the contents of this e-mail transmission, or take any action in relevance thereon or pursuant thereto. Please notify the sender of the error by responding to the email accordingly in a timely and reasonable fashion otherwise failure to do so may cause legal action to be taken. Thank you. Document ID: 0.7.13976.5108 From: [email protected] <[email protected]> To: Flores, Sarah Isgur (OPA) <[email protected]> Cc: Bcc: Subject: Re: Help for Sessions Date: Thu Mar 02 2017 00:26:57 EST Attachments: OK thanks, let me know if there is more I can do. J -----Original Message----- From: "Flores, Sarah Isgur (OPA)" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, March 2, 2017 12:21am To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Help for Sessions Unsure--I have told others about Ukrainian meeting. May not have told wapo. The list they use is from a statement I gave them. Sent from my iPhone On Mar 2, 2017, at 12:04 AM, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote: Question (on background) Did WaPo know about the Ukrainian ambassador meeting from the list, and just decline to mention it? J -----Original Message----- From: "Flores, Sarah Isgur (OPA)" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, March 1, 2017 11:54pm To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Help for Sessions This is great. Thank you! Sent from my iPhone On Mar 1, 2017, at 11:52 PM, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote: Up: http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/03/01/jeff-sessions-fake-news-washington-post- misquote-used-target/ J -----Original Message----- From: "Sarah Isgur Flores" <(b) (6) > Sent: Wednesday, March 1, 2017 10:42pm To: "Joel B. Pollak" <[email protected]> Cc: "Flores, Sarah Isgur. (OPA)" <[email protected]> Subject: Re: Help for Sessions CC'ing doj email. Anything you can do to push back on the absurdity. Forwarding you our stuff so far On Wed, Mar 1, 2017 at 10:36 PM -0500, "Joel B. Pollak" <[email protected]> wrote: Hi Sarah Not sure of your DOJ address. Can I help? If so, how? J Sent from my iPhone Document ID: 0.7.13976.5111 From: Sarah Isgur Flores <(b) (6) > To: Mark Halperin <(b) (6) > Cc: Flores, Sarah Isgur. (OPA) <[email protected]> Bcc: Subject: Re: Date: Thu Mar 02 2017 06:36:00 EST Attachments: what tweet? his senate staff knew about the meetings. it was scheduled by his scheduler, attended by two defense policy staffers. it was in the russell building. this wasn't some secret thing. he met with the Ukrainian ambassador the next day to give you some idea of the context. he has a full schedule today as AG. On Thu, Mar 2, 2017 at 6:27 AM, Mark Halperin <(b) (6) > wrote: On mj now. The day at 7am Help please On Mar 2, 2017, at 6:23 AM, Sarah Isgur Flores <(b) (6) > wrote: You already on? On Thu, Mar 2, 2017 at 4:41 AM -0500, "Mark Halperin" <(b) (6) > wrote: Good morning! You around, counselor? I'm on Morning Joe and Today and could use some help. -- *** Sarah Isgur Flores (b) (6) @whignewtons Document ID: 0.7.13976.5086 From: Sarah Isgur Flores (b)(6) To: Flores, Sarah Isgur. (OPA) <[email protected]> Cc: Bcc: Subject: Fwd: Need by cob Date: Thu Mar 02 2017 00:07:53 EST Attachments: ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Bockhorn, Lee F.