Dear Friend of Press Freedom,

I’m Lauren Harper, the first Daniel Ellsberg chair on government secrecy at Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF), and welcome to The Classifieds. Read on to learn about this week’s top secrecy news.

Stop calling Trump’s private shrine a presidential library

When Eric Trump, the president’s son, unveiled the renderings for a “Donald J. Trump Presidential Library” in Miami this week, the images were more reminiscent of a luxury hotel or casino than a house of records.

Yet news outlets from Politico to The Wall Street Journal responded with headlines reinforcing the claim that this building would be a presidential library. They did so despite zero evidence that President Trump intends to enter into a formal partnership with the National Archives and Records Administration, which oversees the official presidential library system.

A true presidential library is a place where the public goes to scour the inner workings of an administration. By parroting Trump’s branding that this Miami property will be a government library, the press is providing a veneer of public service to what is currently a private shrine funded by legally dubious donations.

And by reiterating the Trump foundation’s inference that the building project is in the public interest, news outlets are adding extra insult to injury, since the building is being funded in part by media companies’ capitulation to Trump’s bogus lawsuits.

There are two main indicators that this project has nothing to do with access to Trump’s records, and everything to do with aggrandizement of his ego:

  1. Trump would have to pay the government to run a presidential library. Under current rules, a presidential foundation must provide NARA an operating endowment equal to 60% of the facility’s construction cost. If the Trump foundation raises its goal of $1 billion for the structure, which is more than double NARA’s entire annual budget, Trump would owe the government $600 million. It’s very hard to imagine him paying that.
  2. Trump has never made records preservation a priority. In fact, there is every indication he prefers to keep his records at the end of his term rather than lawfully turn them over to the government, as required by the Presidential Records Act.

The tragic irony is that while Trump is likely going to raise exorbitant funds for this building, the actual work of history and the presidential library system is being starved.

Until we have proof that Trump is partnering with NARA, let’s stop calling this project a library and call it what it really is: A shrine built under the guise of a public good.

FPF on National Public Radio

I visited NPR’s “1A” program this week to discuss FPF’s Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Trump administration over its attempts to dismantle key privacy protections and lay the groundwork for a centralized database that could contain the most intimate details of everyone living in the United States. I was joined by Jake Laperruque, deputy director of the Security and Surveillance Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology, for this discussion.

What I'm reading

States say ICE pulled Medicaid data despite court order

Government Executive

Twenty-two states are suing the Trump administration over claims Immigration and Customs Enforcement accessed far more Medicaid data than a court order allowed, including records of citizens and lawful permanent residents.

This alleged massive violation is what the Privacy Act is intended to prevent and likely exactly why the Trump administration is trying to eviscerate it. FPF, with 404 Media, sued and obtained the initial ICE-Medicaid data-sharing agreement, and FPF is now suing the Office of Management and Budget over its data-sharing blueprints.

A disappearing data chronology

National Security Archive

This ongoing project from the National Security Archive (where I used to work) will track “fundamental changes to the federal information landscape under the Trump administration,” including data removals and restorations, and promises to be an excellent resource for journalists, researchers, and litigators.

Hegseth exonerates helicopter crews over Kid Rock flyby, nullifying Army probe

The Washington Post

“No punishment. No investigation. Carry on, Patriots.” Perhaps the worst thing about this quote from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, regarding his decision to preemptively nullify the Army’s investigation into two Apache helicopters’ decision to circle both Kid Rock’s house and a “No Kings” protest, is that you can imagine him saying the exact same thing regarding a war crimes investigation.

Transparently yours,

Lauren Harper

Daniel Ellsberg Chair on Government Secrecy
Freedom of the Press Foundation