Washington, D.C., May 6, 2025 — As reported in The New York Times yesterday, a memorandum released following a public records request from Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) confirmed prior reporting that U.S. intelligence agencies do not believe President Donald Trump’s claims that the Tren de Aragua gang takes orders from Venezuela’s government.
The document belies the administration’s stated justifications both for using the Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelans and for rescinding the Justice Department’s policy against subpoenaing journalists in leak investigations, said Lauren Harper, FPF’s Daniel Ellsberg chair on government secrecy.
The following statement can be attributed to Harper:
“The Trump administration claimed that the leak of this memo was so dangerous that it necessitated opening criminal investigations and creating new, stricter rules around leaks to the media. We wanted to see if that was true — or if the Justice Department was weakening journalists' protections to help hide a document that the public has an obvious right to see. The FOIA release not only shows that the Maduro regime does not direct Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua but that the DOJ's new media rules are an excuse to target journalists.”
Read the memo, the FOIA request, and the official government letter granting release here.
Please contact us if you would like further comment.
