President Donald Trump’s about-face on releasing federal records on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has drawn rebuke from even some of his most stalwart allies.
But Trump, who’s declared himself the “most transparent” president in history, has received far less criticism for the ways in which his administration has sought to block public access to records that Americans have long been able to secure.
Every day, journalists like me, along with scholars at think tanks and campaign researchers, file public records requests to see how the government is working — or not working. These records often serve as the basis for investigative journalism, academic papers and even campaign ads.
The Trump administration does not take seriously its legal requirement to release public records.
While statistics are not yet available on Trump’s second term, it’s already clear anecdotally that his administration does not take seriously its legal requirement to release public records.
This is a far cry from the image Trump likes to project. On the campaign trail he promised to release government records on Epstein, the assassination of John F. Kennedy and even UFOs.
To his credit, Trump released the long-sought JFK files, although his administration failed to take some basic measures to protect the privacy of still-living Americans named in them.
But just as he reversed himself on the pledge to release any Epstein files, Trump also seems to have reneged on leading what the White House this year declared is “the most transparent administration in history.”
During my 25-year reporting career, I’ve filed public records requests at the local, state and federal level hundreds of times, including dozens since Trump returned to the White House in January.
Taken together, the responses from federal agencies so far this year are unlike any I’ve ever received.
Amid indiscriminate staffing cutbacks due to Elon Musk’s DOGE effort, some agencies have acknowledged that they are understaffed and won’t be able to help anytime soon. Others have said they currently have no dedicated, full-time officials to handle public records requests.
And some have waited months to even respond to my inquiries, despite federal law mandating they initially respond within 20 days. That’s if they respond at all — some have not so far.
An example: the U.S. Agency for International Development, which Trump has sought to dismantle, rolling its remnants into the State Department.
I filed a Freedom of Information Act request in November seeking records that would shed light on post-election discussions among top officials about how the agency would change under a second Trump administration. USAID acknowledged my request on Nov. 26.
Shortly after Trump took office, USAID underwent massive layoffs and operational closures.
Following my usual routine, I sent emails prodding the FOIA officer to provide an update or even just acknowledge my request is being processed.
On April 23, after nearly five months of radio silence, a USAID staffer emailed a pro forma apology which said the agency has “limited capacity” to respond to records requests.
Some of these records might be helpful for Trump to make his case against the agency, as they would show what staffers were thinking about him before he took office. Some might be damning. But the public doesn’t know because I have yet to receive a single document.
In years past, a delay of eight months for a relatively straightforward request like this would’ve been wildly abnormal. Now, it’s increasingly commonplace.
I also filed FOIA requests with several agencies in January seeking records surrounding Trump’s directive to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.” One such request, which I sent to the U.S. Geological Survey, yielded some documents that I used to write a story about the brouhaha.
The USGS then said it had more records and would send them “no later than April 14.”
When they didn’t send them, I asked for an explanation, and officials then said April 25. Later they pushed it to May 19. Then June 20. Then July 7 “or possibly sooner.” Then mid-July. We’ll see. Then there’s the Bureau of Land Management, which took six months to even acknowledge a public records request — and then it was to say they simply couldn’t look for the records. When I reminded them they can be sued if they don’t produce records under the law — something I’ve done several times — they changed their tune. Though I still don’t have the records, they at least now say they are looking for them. I tried to ask the White House to discuss their stance on FOIA. In keeping with the theme, they didn’t respond. Neither did the Office of Government Information Services, a division of the National Archives that helps resolve FOIA disputes. “Please note we are experiencing an increase in our inquiries received and are working to respond as soon as possible,” an automated email from the Office of Government Information Services read. Next I turned to the Department of Justice, which is supposed to enforce the Freedom of Information Act, the law that allows access to public records. A department spokesperson — who declined to be identified by name, which is ironic under the circumstances — emailed a statement: “This year the department has seen a historic increase in the number of FOIA requests received and is adding resources to meet those increased demands. The department also continues to encourage compliance with the FOIA by providing agencies with guidance, conducting regular trainings for agency personnel, and offering legal counsel to agencies seeking advice on their work to implement the FOIA.” For me and advocates of open government, this is hardly convincing. FOIA is not dead but it is “certainly on life support,” said Lauren Harper, who works on government secrecy issues for the Freedom of the Press Foundation. Public records law is functionally useless for most Americans. David Cuillier, an expert on freedom of information laws at the University of Florida, said public records laws are currently mired in a “tar pit” and are functionally useless for most Americans. To be fair, this is a bipartisan failing. His analysis of the Department of Justice’s internal data on FOIA response rates found that the full release of records has declined from 38% in 2011 during the Obama administration to 12% in 2024 under President Joe Biden. Meanwhile, the average response time nearly doubled, from 24 to 44 days. And that was before Trump returned to office. Both Harper and Cuillier say federal courts are the last place where Americans can still consistently secure public records, as government agencies generally respond to court orders. This means FOIA, which was designed for any American to use, only works for people or organizations with deep enough pockets to take the government to court. The basic idea of the Freedom of Information Act is that government records belong to “we the people.” But it’s increasingly clear the Trump administration doesn’t see it that way. Subscribe to the Project 47 newsletter to receive weekly updates on and expert insight into the key issues and figures defining Trump’s second term.
Dave Levinthal
Dave Levinthal is a Washington, D.C.-based investigative journalist whose reporting appears in publications such as Rolling Stone, Fortune, Columbia Journalism Review and NOTUS. 
