Insider filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking records about Trump and Pence's post-presidency transition offices.General Services Administration officials refused to release some records, and Insider sued.
There is "no discernible public interest" in disclosing the identities of six taxpayer-funded staffers who worked for former President
Releasing the Trump and Pence staffers' names would "constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of their privacy," according to a motion filed by Department of Justice attorneys, including US Attorney Matthew Graves, who President Joe Biden nominated.
The Biden administration's argument comes in response to Insider's October 2021 Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the US General Services Administration, which the news organization accuses of violating federal
While not naming names, Department of Justice lawyers said the unidentified individuals' work for Trump or Pence "appears to be low-level." They further assert that "the individuals at issue are not public figures" and "their identities are not well-known to the public."
Revealing their names "would likely subject them to unwanted intrusions and media scrutiny," the Department of Justice lawyers wrote.
They further noted that the General Services Administration last year released some names of Trump and Pence post-presidential transition team staffers, then provided more after Insider sued.
'As long as it takes'
Insider argued in its lawsuit that the General Services Administration incorrectly and illegally withheld requested information.
"Insider will fight to obtain this information for as long as it takes,"
The public, Samuelsohn added, has a right to know who it paid to work for Trump and Pence in the six months after Trump's second impeachment trial — the US Senate acquitted the former president — and the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
According to records previously obtained by Insider through the Freedom of Information Act, the Trump and Pence transition offices spent federal funds on everything from stationery engraved with Trump's initials to printer toner and a plastic floor mat for use under the former president's desk chair.
Those records also indicated that at least 17 former White House advisors, including
Scavino's role in helping Trump deny and attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election is of high interest to the US House select committee investigating the January 6 attack. In April, Congress held Scavino in contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with investigators. Days before, Biden has denied Scavino's request to assert executive privilege to avoid the committee's questions.
Around the same time, the General Services Administration voluntarily identified three more post-White House transition-team staff members: Trump aides Margo Martin and Madison Porter and the Pence aide Hannah MacInnis.
Porter served as the communications director for former first lady Melania Trump, according to the agency's records, and Martin worked as a press assistant. MacInnis served as Pence's digital director and has since founded her own design-consulting firm.
The General Services Administration estimated that Trump's post-presidential staff would receive about $1.3 million in federal salary and benefits between January 20, 2021, and July 21, when the formal transition period ended, according to records obtained by Insider.
The case — Insider Inc. v. US General Services Administration — is pending in US District Court for the District of Columbia.