This Week in Oversight: Palantir, Personal Data, and Political Pressure
We sued the Trump administration for answers about its use of Palantir systems and whether the president is pressuring the IRS to target his foes, and condemned its SPLC indictment.
Multiple federal agencies are accessing, sharing, and using Americans’ sensitive personal data through systems built by Palantir. But despite requests, the government has failed to share basic information about these systems, raising significant privacy concerns. This week, we sued the Trump administration — specifically the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Internal Revenue Service, and Social Security Administration — for information about their use of Palantir tools and access to sensitive data.
Our lawsuit seeks answers to basic questions the public should already have: how the government is using personal data and what safeguards — if any — are in place to prevent it from being misused or compromised.
We specifically asked for:
- Records of communications between senior government officials and Palantir.
- Contracts and agreements with Palantir.
- Policies and guidance related to how sensitive personal data is shared with Palantir.
- Records of materials Palantir has sent the government regarding its access to or use of sensitive information.
We’ve long been investigating the Trump administration’s use of Americans’ personal data. Our concerns are heightened by the government’s increasing use of Palantir tools in enforcement efforts, including immigration-related actions and other areas where personal data can have significant real-world consequences.
“When the government builds vast systems like this in secret, the public has no way of knowing how that power is being used or who it is being used against,” said our Executive Director Chioma Chukwu. “That’s especially alarming coming from an administration that has repeatedly shared Americans’ data in violation of the law and shown time and again it is willing to use every tool at its disposal to target its perceived enemies for retribution.”
Is the IRS targeting Trump’s foes?
Trump and senior officials have suggested that some universities and nonprofits should face scrutiny or lose their tax-exempt status based on their perceived political or ideological positions. This week, along with Protect Democracy, we filed suit against the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury seeking records that would reveal whether the White House has attempted to direct or influence the IRS to follow through with that threat.
We filed suit after the IRS refused to release records in response to Protect Democracy’s FOIA request seeking documents reflecting any individuals or entities identified by the White House for potential audit or investigation. The IRS claimed they are categorically exempt from disclosure, but our lawsuit challenges that claim and argues that the IRS and the Treasury Department have unlawfully refused to conduct an adequate search and are improperly withholding non-exempt records.
We’re seeking a court order requiring the IRS and the Treasury to search for and release responsive documents.
Condemning the Prosecution of the Southern Poverty Law Center
After the Trump administration announced its politically motivated 11-count indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) this week, our Executive Director Chioma Chukwu released the following statement:
“For more than 50 years, the Southern Poverty Law Center has exposed hate, taken on violent white supremacists from the Klan to the Proud Boys, and protected people from discrimination — work that has made us all safer and strengthened the rule of law.
What we are seeing now is a dangerous escalation: the Trump administration is openly abusing federal power to attack a nonprofit organization engaged in civil rights work that is foundational to our democracy.
The stakes here are profound: civil rights organizations help ensure people can vote, live free from discrimination, and remain safe in their communities.
Fighting back against violent hate and discrimination is not a crime, and using the machinery of the federal government to silence critics is a naked abuse of power. This administration may hope to intimidate nonprofit organizations and chill dissent, but it will not succeed. The civil rights movement will endure and every attempt to silence it only reinforces how necessary it is.”
American Oversight in the news
- Who owns presidential records? Trump’s Justice Department says it’s him (NPR)
- Justin Heap is undermining, not restoring, voters’ trust. It’s time for him to go. (AZ Mirror)
- Trump admin violating FOIA by refusing to release documents about Palantir, lawsuit says (Law & Crime)
- White House loosens rules for preserving presidential records (Washington Post)
Other stories we’re following
- Justice Dept. targets hundreds of citizens in new push for denaturalization (New York Times)
- ‘The absolute edge of precedent’: Feds prepare to take on data centers (Politico)
- Court filing backs up claims of ‘shadow administrator’ at FEMA (Politico)
- Trump fought to keep the ballroom fundraising contract secret. Here’s what’s in it. (Washington Post)