Trump administration abuses secrecy rules to manipulate news narrative

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Freedom of the Press Foundation’s Lauren Harper explains how FOIA helped foil Trump’s attempt to rewrite history.

FPF, photo illustration adapted from Legal AF

Lauren Harper, the first Daniel Ellsberg chair on government secrecy for Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), recently joined MeidasTouch Network’s Legal AF podcast, “Court of History.” During her appearance, Harper explained how the Trump administration is abusing secrecy to try and control the news narrative — and how an FPF Freedom of Information Act win revealed the truth.

Harper was joined by University of Maryland professor Jason Baron in a wide-ranging discussion with “Court of History” podcast co-hosts Sidney Blumenthal and Sean Wilentz. Additional topics included the undermining of the National Archives, how the illegal destruction of records impedes a future administration’s ability to rebuild what this administration breaks, and more.

Watch the video podcast here.

And if you’d like to hear more from Harper and Baron about how the threats to the National Archives erode our right to know, check out their earlier appearance on NPR’s 1A.