The Trump administration is being sued for refusing to release public records related to the ongoing review of national monument designations by the Department of the Interior.
The Center for Biological Diversity says the DOI has violated the Freedom of Information Act by failing to respond to its requests for Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke's communication records and schedule, as well as records concerning the agency's national monuments review.
"Zinke's review of these national monuments has been a sham from the start — so it's no wonder they're keeping this process out of the public view," Meg Townsend, open government staff attorney with the center, said in a press release. "Why would he hide his emails and his schedule unless he doesn't want the public to know who he's talking to? Zinke's deluded if he thinks his Roosevelt image squares with the Trump administration's sellout of our public heritage to oil, gas, mining and timber industries."
Trump signed an executive order in late April instructing Zinke to review any national monument created since Jan. 1, 1996, that spans at least 100,000 acres. The move, he said, would "end another egregious use of government power," referring to the 1906 law that gives a president the power to declare federal lands as monuments and restrict their use.
"The Antiquities Act does not give the federal government unlimited power to lock up millions of acres of land and water, and it's time that we ended this abusive practice," Trump said then.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.