Judicial Watch Seeks Russian Records Given to Sen. Cardin

The left and its partisans are blowing lots of smoke about Russia, Comey, and our election. They are hoping citizens will think "fire." Our position is to let the politicians foam at the mouth — we’ll uncover the facts.

And so, as part of our continuing effort in that regard, we have filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of State for all records provided by them to Senator Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., related to alleged Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election. We filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of State (No. 1:17-cv-00852)).We went to court after the State Department failed to respond to our March 2, 2017, FOIA request seeking: All records provided by any official, employee, or representative of the Department of State to Sen. Ben Cardin, any member of his staff, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and/or any Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff member regarding, concerning, or related to efforts by the Russian Government to affect, manipulate, or influence any election in the United States or any foreign country from Nov. 8, 2016 to present.

The Obama administration reportedly spread information about alleged Russian efforts to undermine the 2016 presidential election: There was also an effort to pass reports and other sensitive materials to Congress. In one instance, the State Department sent a cache of documents marked "secret" to Sen. Cardin of Maryland days before the Jan. 20 inauguration. The documents, detailing Russian efforts to intervene in elections worldwide, were sent in response to a request from Mr. Cardin, the top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and were shared with Republicans on the panel.

This is our fourth Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit (see here, here, here) related to the surveillance, unmasking, and illegal leaking targeting President Trump and his associates.

The question before us is, did the Obama State Department improperly share classified information with a Democratic senator as part of an anti-Trump scheme? Needless to say, the Senate won’t be investigating Sen. Cardin’s role in any potential violations of law, but we are going to federal court to investigate his role.

Tom Fitton is the president of Judicial Watch. He is a nationally recognized expert on government corruption. A former talk radio and television host and analyst, Tom is well known across the country as a national spokesperson for the conservative cause. He has been quoted in Time, Vanity Fair, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and most every other major newspaper in the country. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.