The Trump administration has reportedly refused to disclose 20 emails between a top aide to Mick Mulvaney—President Trump’s acting chief of staff—and an official at the White House’s Office of Management (OMB) and Budget discussing the freeze on aid meant for Ukraine. In The New York Times’ Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit for the emails, OMB said it would not turn over the 40 pages of emails between Mulvaney aide Robert Blair and OMB official Michael Duffey. They also said they would not be releasing them with redactions. “All 20 documents are being withheld in full,” OMB’s FOIA officer wrote in a letter, and said communications involving presidential staff and internal policy discussions were exempt from FOIA requests. The officer also claimed the release of the emails would “inhibit the frank and candid exchange of views that is necessary for effective government decision-making.”
Duffey was in charge of handing the release of $391 million of military aide to Ukraine, which was held until Sept. 2019—the same month a whistleblower came forward with concerns about Trump's July 25 call with the Ukrainian president. A lawyer for the Times said the newspaper planned to challenge the withholding of the emails.
