Case 1:17-cv-00144-APM Document 35 Filed 01/03/18 Page 1 of 2

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
____________________________________
)
JAMES MADISON PROJECT, et al., )
)
Plaintiffs, )
)
v. ) No. 1:17-cv-00144-APM
)
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, et al., )
)
Defendants. )
____________________________________)

DEFENDANTS’ RESPONSE TO PLAINTIFFS’ FIFTH NOTICE OF SUPPLEMENTAL

INFORMATION

President Trump posted a tweet on December 26, 2017, in which he said:

WOW, @foxandfrlends [sic] “Dossier is bogus. Clinton Campaign, DNC funded

Dossier. FBI CANNOT (after all this time) VERIFY CLAIMS IN DOSSIER OF
RUSSIA/TRUMP COLLUSION. FBI TAINTED.” And they used this Crooked
Hillary pile of garbage as the basis for going after the Trump Campaign!

Ex. A.1

Plaintiffs James Madison Project and Josh Gerstein argue in their fifth notice of

supplemental information that President Trump waived the Glomar response of the Federal

Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to Items 2 and 3 of plaintiffs’ request under the Freedom of

Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552, when he posted this tweet. ECF No. 34 at 2. Plaintiffs are

mistaken. Nothing in the tweet states or even implies that the FBI has made a “final

determination[] regarding the accuracy (or lack thereof) of any of the individual factual claims

listed in the two page synopsis” of the Trump Dossier, ECF No. 7 ¶ 14, much less constitutes

“‘an official . . . disclosure’” that the FBI has made any such “final determination[].” Mobley v.

1
References to exhibits are to the exhibits to this memorandum.
 Case 1:17-cv-00144-APM Document 35 Filed 01/03/18 Page 2 of 2

CIA, 806 F.3d 568, 583 (D.C. Cir. 2015) (quoting Fitzgibbon v. CIA, 911 F.2d 755, 765 (D.C.

Cir. 1990)). Rather than constituting any such disclosure, the tweet appears to be a “response [of

the President] to a Washington Times report that was discussed on ‘Fox & Friends.’”2 Ex. B at

1. No waiver of the FBI’s Glomar response thus results from the tweet.

Respectfully submitted,

CHAD A. READLER
Acting Assistant Attorney General

JESSIE K. LIU
United States Attorney

ELIZABETH J. SHAPIRO
Deputy Director

s/ David M. Glass
DAVID M. GLASS, DC Bar 544549
Senior Trial Counsel
Department of Justice, Civil Division
20 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Room 7200
Washington, D.C. 20529
Tel: (202) 514-4469/Fax: (202) 616-8470
E-mail: david.glass@usdoj.gov
Dated: January 3, 2018 Attorneys for Defendants

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on January 3, 2018, I served the within memorandum and the

exhibits to the memorandum on all counsel of record by filing them with the Court by means of

its ECF system.

s/ David M. Glass

2
Fox & Friends is “Fox News’ morning show.” ECF No. 34 at 1 n.1.
2