Judge orders Army to release records related to Trump Arlington visit

A federal judge has ordered the Army to release records related to a late August visit former President Trump made to Arlington National Cemetery in which a reported confrontation between Trump staffers and a cemetery official occurred.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman granted a preliminary injunction on Tuesday asked for by American Oversight, a government ethics watchdog group, to force the Army and Department of Defense “to make timely determinations on” a previous Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for records by the watchdog group related to the reported confrontation, according to court documents.

“Defendants shall produce responsive, non-exempt records on or before October 25, 2024,” Friedman said in a Tuesday filing.

Arlington National Cemetery is under the jurisdiction of the Army.

In a filing earlier this month, American Oversight said they submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in late August “to [Arlington National Cemetery (ANC)] seeking records with the potential to shed light on the events” from the day of Trump’s Arlington visit. 

“Specifically, American Oversight requested any report, including an incident report, regarding the alleged incident,” American Oversight said in the earlier filing. “This request would capture records, to the extent they exist, about ANC’s efforts to enforce and investigate any potential inappropriate political activity in a location where it is prohibited by law.”

The watchdog group said despite them “promptly submitting the FOIA request and a subsequent request for expedited processing,” the Army and Department of Defense did not reply to their “request to expedite and it has not received any records from ANC concerning” the reported confrontation.

In response to American Oversight’s request, attorneys for the government said in a later filing that going ahead with the watchdog group’s request “would effectively allow” them “to jump the line ahead of other FOIA requests” being worked on by the Army and Department of Defense.

“Rather, the plain language of FOIA’s expedited processing provision requires that an agency process an expedited FOIA request ‘as soon as practicable’ and imposes no limit for the processing time,” the attorneys said.

“With the election just two weeks away, the American people have a clear and compelling interest in knowing how the government responded to an alleged incident involving a major presidential candidate who has a history of politicizing the military,” Chioma Chukwu, American Oversight’s interim executive director, said in an emailed statement to The Hill on Tuesday.

“These records belong to the public, and we’re pleased the court agreed on the need to expedite our request. We look forward to receiving the incident report and making it available to the public.”

The Department of Justice declined The Hill’s request for comment.

The Hill has also reached out to the Army, Arlington National Cemetery and the Trump campaign for comment.

Updated Oct. 23 at 4:50 p.m. EST.