This week, American Oversight joined Democracy Forward in suing Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie ([link removed]) and the National Archives and Records Administration for failing to recover and preserve emails that top VA officials sent from personal email accounts to three members of President Donald Trump’s private Florida club, in violation of the Federal Records Act.

Last week, American Oversight published a new set of documents ([link removed]) that show the extraordinary level of involvement at the VA that senior political appointees allowed the so-called Mar-a-Lago Crowd — Ike Perlmutter, the chairman of Marvel Entertainment; Bruce Moskowitz, a Palm Beach doctor; and Marc Sherman, a lawyer — despite the fact that none of the men had before held government positions. On top of that, the documents include evidence that top officials, including former VA Secretary David Shulkin, used personal email to communicate ([link removed]) with the three, so the full extent of their involvement may not yet be known.

And the evidence of this unusual and heavy-handed involvement in VA policymaking keeps mounting — this week, Politico reported on new emails ([link removed]) obtained by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The documents contain a number of messages from career officials that reveal the frustration they felt at having to work with the trio on issues like overhauling the department’s electronic records system. Politico wrote that ([link removed]) senior staff “humored the three Trump friends while ignoring their advice, which they considered misinformed and potentially disruptive to veteran health care.”

More from this week:

Student Loan Industry Lobbying: New documents reveal ([link removed]) that the CEO of giant student loan servicer Navient personally lobbied the Education Department before the administration's 2018 decision to preempt states from regulating the industry. The documents were provided to the National Student Legal Defense Network in response to a lawsuit ([link removed]) we filed on NSLDN’s behalf, and show the CEO asking the administration to declare that states didn't have authority to regulate student loan servicers.

But Why Lobby When You Can Work There?: An executive at another large student loan servicing business has been appointed ([link removed]) the top student loan official at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, another addition to an administration friendly to student loan servicers and for-profit colleges ([link removed]) .

Gorka Out: Two months after taking the job as CBP press secretary, Katharine Gorka is leaving the administration ([link removed]) . As an adviser at Homeland Security, Gorka reportedly told the department to cut grant funding for groups working to fight right-wing extremism, and we have an active lawsuit ([link removed]) against DHS in our investigation of whether and to what extent her ties to anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim groups influenced federal policy.

Abuse of Migrants in Custody: Just a few days after ProPublica reported on ([link removed]) the existence of a Facebook group in which Border Patrol agents made offensive comments about migrants, CNN reported on ([link removed]) Customs and Border Protection agents having made a Honduran migrant hold a sign that said, “I like men,” in an attempt to humiliate him. We’re asking for photos ([link removed]) taken around the time of the incident by employees at Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s El Paso Processing Center.

Congressional Visits to Detention Centers: Members of Congress ([link removed]) , federal inspectors and other officials ([link removed]) have made ([link removed]) or tried to make ([link removed]) numerous visits to immigrant detention centers run by CBP, ICE, and HHS’ Administration for Children and Families. But how do officials at those facilities prepare for such visits? We’ve asked the agencies for directives or other guidance ([link removed]) issued at various facilities for how to handle inquiries or visits from
political officials.

Domestic Terrorism: “A majority of the domestic terrorism cases we’ve investigated are motivated by some version of what you might call white supremacist violence,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray ([link removed]) during congressional testimony on July 23, less than two weeks before mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton. We’re asking for the data underlying Wray’s testimony ([link removed]) , as well as ([link removed]) information about ([link removed]) domestic terror
incidents going back to 2009.

Ben Carson Jr.: Transportation Department calendars ([link removed]) we obtained show that Ben Carson Jr., the son of the secretary of housing and urban development, and other family members met with several department employees in May 2017 to discuss public-private partnerships. Ben Carson Jr. is the co-founder of Interprise Partners, a company that invests in “critical infrastructure,” and earlier this year we uncovered records from June 2017 showing his efforts to use his influence ([link removed]) at HUD to help his business. To learn whether Carson Jr. has been making similar efforts at the Transportation Department, we’re asking for more information ([link removed]) about that meeting as well as for
communications between top Transportation officials and Carson family members.

Zinke the Lobbyist: It’s not too surprising that Ryan Zinke, the former interior secretary who left office in a cloud of investigations, is now working for companies that he was tasked with regulating ([link removed]) during his time in the administration. Zinke is now involved with ([link removed]) multiple ([link removed];) oil and gas industry companies and entities, and ethics guidance for post-government employment requires that he wait five years before lobbying the Interior Department and wait till the end of the administration to lobby other officials. We filed a Freedom of Information Act request ([link removed]) to see if he is
following the rules.

Perry Ethics: In late 2016 — before he joined the administration as Trump’s energy secretary but after his turn on Dancing with the Stars — former Texas Governor Rick Perry joined the board ([link removed]) of Celltex Therapeutics, a stem cell company founded by a donor and adviser. In his ethics agreement, Perry reported that he had resigned from his position at the end of the year. He also resigned from the boards of two developers of the Dakota Access Pipeline, Sunoco Logistics Partners and Energy Transfer Partners ([link removed]) . We’ve filed FOIA requests for communications with ([link removed]) those ([link removed])
companies ([link removed]) — and with lobbyist Jeff Miller ([link removed]) — to determine whether Perry is heeding his ethical obligations.

Roy Moore Aide at Energy: Zach Michael, a Trump administration speechwriter who previously worked for former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, has been appointed ([link removed]) as acting chief of staff in the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. We have his resume ([link removed]) , which says that while working for Moore, he “[d]rafted speeches and conducted research on behalf of causes related to traditional values.”

Frank Wuco: Frank Wuco, the senior White House adviser to the Department of Homeland Security, has made frequent appearances on anti-LGBTQ radio shows ([link removed]) and has supported banning visas for people from Muslim countries. We want to know who he’s been communicating with outside the government ([link removed]) , and have also asked for his communications with notable anti-immigrant hardliners like White House Senior Adviser Stephen Miller and his aides.

Lynne Patton’s Twitter: Senior HUD official Lynne Patton — the one who had no housing experience and who has requested to participate in a ([link removed]) reality show ([link removed]) about black Republicans — sent a series of unprofessional and dismissive tweets ([link removed]) to reporter Molly Parker on Thursday. Of course, Patton once also said that American Oversight should “get a life.” ([link removed])

Giuliani and Ukraine: According to the New York Times ([link removed]) , Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani has renewed his push for Ukraine to investigate Trump’s political opponents, including presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son. We still have active FOIA requests in our investigation of how much Trump’s political interests ([link removed]) are influencing U.S. policy in Ukraine ([link removed]) .
To find out more about our work, you can follow us on Twitter at @WeAreOversight ([link removed]) or on Facebook ([link removed]) , and please consider supporting our work with a contribution here ([link removed]) .

Thank you again for your support and for helping us hold the administration accountable.


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