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    Judge: White House visitor logs subject to FOIA

    WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge is ruling against the Secret Service, saying records of visitors to the White House are subject to Freedom of Information Act requests.

    The Secret Service had argued that the visitors' logs were presidential records exempt from public disclosure. But U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell on Wednesday disagreed.

    Howell sided with government watchdog group Judicial Watch, which had sued for records from the first eight months of the Obama administration. Howell said the Secret Service must disclose the records, except individual entries that fall under exemptions like for national security.

    In September 2009, President Barack Obama began voluntarily releasing the names of people who visit the executive complex, reversing a long-standing policy that transcended both Democratic and Republican presidents. The lawsuit covered the records before the policy change.

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    14 comments

    • Lisa  •  9 months ago
      FOIA? Okay, I confess, I visited the White House last September, and Obama and his family were actually there!!! Lucky me. Anyone spot this family on Martha's Vineyard yet? I suggest going to Oprah's east on the west end of the island..posh, lovely, and free of any poor people--just what he likes!
    • Thomas  •  9 months ago
      But this ruling ONLY applies to Democratic administrations.

      God-fearing Republican administrations are still allowed to run their government in absolute secrecy.
    • Bobby  •  9 months ago
      Obama DEFIED the Constitution when he became the President of the U.N. IMPEACH NOW!
    • Bobby  •  9 months ago
      "I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic"....Who IS Barry Soetoro? Why are ALL of his records sealed? What IS he hiding?
    • Kormster  •  9 months ago
      This is the same admin that in a secret meeting was given and award for its "transparency in government"
    • Kormster  •  9 months ago
      This truly is the most ransparent admin in history. The empor is truly not wearing any close!
    • J G  •  9 months ago
      NObamaCON
    • Blickum  •  9 months ago
      Its not what you know but who you know.
    • America  •  9 months ago
      No, no, no secret service, obuma a public figure and his records are NOT protected under FOIA, therefore, release them with all your white out and America will see exactly who is hobnobbing with the liar muslim in chief. It has been exposed obuma calls soros but knows soros has not visited. However, the rest will be an eye opener and a game changer. IMPEACH obuma coming soon.
      • alfie 9 months ago
        First of all, keeping secret the visitors list is not a policy of the current administration.Did you skip the line that said the Obama WH released this information reversing a long standing policy of democrat and republican administrations to keep the info secret. Peddle your poison elsewhere.
      • Thomas 9 months ago
        But we must keep the Bush/Cheney visitor logs locked up in an undislosed location.
    • oakland  •  9 months ago
      Obama doesn't want us to see who he has secret meetings with. This from the candidate who claims he will fight for "transparency in government"? His government is more like a secret society of underground socialism and Marxism combined with shady Chicago style corruption.
      • Kormster 9 months ago
        No think you mis heard him he said "I am going fight transparency in government."
    • Impeach Obama  •  9 months ago
      Obama should be impeached for malpractice and the neglect of duty. Read below:
      Obama should be impeached for malpractice and neglect of duty.
      WRITEREP dot HOUSE dot GOV

      The right to impeach public officials is secured by the U.S. Constitution in Article I, Sections 2 and 3, and in Article II, Section 4, which indicates the grounds for impeachment: "the President, Vice President, and all civil officers of the United States shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."

      A criminal offense is not necessary for impeachment and conviction. Just a House Majority opinion of misconduct, or abuse or violation of some public trust.

      If you go back and read what James Madison wrote during the framing of this you will see that it includes :
      "Impeachment had been included in the proposals before the Constitutional Convention from its beginning. A specific provision, making the executive removable from office on impeachment and conviction for "mal-practice or neglect of duty," was unanimously adopted even before it was decided that the executive would be a single person.

      “An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history." - G. Ford

      “The subjects of its jurisdiction are those offenses which proceed from the misconduct of public men, or, in other words, from the abuse or violation of some public trust.”-Alexander Hamilton

      "The history of the impeachment provision as not limiting grounds to indictable crimes, but also including serious abuses of power and attempts to subvert the Constitution.” --Ronald Rotunda, University of Illinois College of Law.

      WRITEREP dot HOUSE dot GOV
    • GEY  •  9 months ago
      Wonder who will show up on this list and what is Obama trying to hide. We all know he has unions, communist, black panthers, muslim brotherhood, confict'd terrorist Biil Ayers etc. visiting.
      • alfie 9 months ago
        Who was Bush hiding during his tenure? The oil thugs and Saudi princes who wanted the Iraqi war to steal the country's resources? DID YOU NOT READ THAT THIS SECRECY WAS POLICY OF ADMINISTRATIONS BOTH DEMOCRAT AND REPUBLICAN UP TIL OBAMA TOOK RESIDENCE IN THE WH????
    • Kurt Russet  •  9 months ago
      Get invited to the WH and bring your own kindling?
    • James  •  9 months ago
      So what? They still won't release them. They don need no stinkin judges.

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