Unpopular President Donald Trump has used his newfound power to enrich himself and his brand. One of the ways he uses taxpayer money is to fund his many trips down to Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Florida. He’s called it the “Winter White House” [makes gagging sound]. The exact nature of how things are run down at Mar-a-Lago and who is actually getting to meet with the orange one there remains a mystery—but like all things Trump, there have been questionable stories surrounding the place. But there’s some good news in this pile of Trump: the AP reports that the Department of Homeland Security has agreed to hand over the guest list to Mar-a-Lago from this past September—or as we may begin to call it, “Russiantember.”
The Department of Homeland Security has agreed to hand over records related to the property’s visitors in September. The move comes in response to a lawsuit filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the National Security Archive and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University.
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DHS said in response to the lawsuit that it has no records about Trump Tower. CREW officials say they have no idea what kind of information DHS will share about Mar-a-Lago, but the liberal-funded government watchdog said it will make public whatever it receives.
The federal judge overseeing the case ordered late last week that the administration “complete its search for and processing of responsive ‘records of presidential visitors at Mar-a-Lago,’ and produce any non-exempt responsive records” by Sept. 8, according to court documents.
The White House has argued that they didn’t want to tell anybody anything—so there. Surprisingly, that defense has not held up.