The Investigation Continues: New Lawsuit Seeks Pence Ukraine Records

Nonpartisan watchdog group American Oversight today sued the State Department to compel the release of records related to Vice President Mike Pence’s involvement in the Ukraine pressure campaign.

“Despite the president’s nominal acquittal, it is essential that the public, Congress, and the media continue to push for transparency and accountability for those who participated in the Ukraine pressure campaign,” said Austin Evers, executive director of American Oversight. “Mike Pence is a primary beneficiary of the truncated Senate trial. There are stones left unturned and questions that need answering. The public has a right to know what the vice president’s role was in the Ukraine scheme.”

The lawsuit specifically seeks to enforce three Freedom of Information Act requests filed by American Oversight in October 2019. The first seeks records related to Vice President Mike Pence’s August/September trip to Europe, including expenses, reimbursements, and records sufficient to identify all attendees on the Poland portion of the trip, when he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The second request seeks records related to Pence’s September communications with Zelensky, including briefing materials and summaries of the communications. The third request seeks communications between the Office of the Vice President and specified State Department officials, including Kurt Volker, Gordon Sondland, Bill Taylor, Marie Yovanovitch, and Mike Pompeo about the effort to push Ukraine to announce an investigation into the Bidens. The complaint is available here.

Today’s suit is brought by American Oversight as part of our ongoing investigation into the Trump administration’s Ukraine dealings. There are five document production deadlines scheduled in the next six weeks in response to American Oversight’s earlier FOIA litigation — including the expected release of additional records from the Departments of State, Energy, and Defense. See the full investigation, FOIAs, and records uncovered here.