Berryville Man Files Federal Lawsuit Over FOIA Response
A local man is asking a United States federal court to help him
gain access to information related to the citizenship history of
President Barack Obama.
Berryville resident, George Archibald has petitioned the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to compel the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and former White House Counsel Robert Bauer to produce documents that Archibald says may provide new insight into whether the President’s mother forfeited his US citizenship when Obama was just six-years-old.
If Archibald’s suspicion is correct it would raise important questions about the legitimacy of Obama’s qualifications to hold the office of President of the United States.
“I’m not a ‘birther,’’’ Archibald said after filing his lawsuit. “I’m simply interested in getting to the bottom of what appears to be stone-walling by the administration against my Freedom of Information request.”
In the suit, filed on November 16 in the District of Columbia, Archibald alleges that a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that he filed with the FBI’s Winchester, Virginia office on April 15, 2011 asking for information produced during the FBI’s background check of presidential candidate Barack Hussein Obama II was improperly rejected. In the FOIA request Archibald asks for “information regarding Obama’s birth in 1961, family background, citizenship, residency, immigration, expatriation/repatriation, and other matters related to Obama’ s origins and nationality generated during the FBI’s 2008 investigation of presidential candidates.”
Archibald’s request is based on President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Executive Order 10450, “Security Requirements for Government Employment,” issued in 1953. Under the Eisenhower directive, the FBI conducts background checks on all presidential candidates. Archibald is seeking information that may have turned up in the FBI investigation related to Barach Obama’s citizenship status after his mother wed an Indonesian citizen.
Archibald believes that after Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham Soetoro, arrived in Djakarta with her young son in 1967, who he says was adopted by stepfather Lolo Soetoro, Barry Obama maintained permanent residency and schooling in Indonesia until 1971 before returning to Honolulu in 1979 to live with his maternal grandparents where he attended high school and later graduated. Archibald contends that Indonesian authorities would have required the young Obama to naturalize in order to remain in the country and attend school.
“The fact that your mother, Stanley Ann Dunham Soetoro, took you [Barach Obama] to live in Indonesia in 1967, at age six, after she had divorced your father and married Indonesian national Lolo Soetoro – where after arrival at Djakarta you both were temporarily refused admission by Indonesian authorities, who balked at your dual U.S.-Kenya nationality,” Archibald said in an open letter to Obama asking the President to release the information requested in the lawsuit.
“Your mother responded upon requirement of the Djakarta government authorities by having you legally adopted as a minor child by your Indonesian citizen stepfather Lolo Soetoro; your adoptive name was changed to Barry Soetoro; your claim to U.S. nationality was renounced; and you were legally naturalized as an Indonesian citizen,” the letter continues.
Archibald believes that the FBI may be holding information related to Mr. Obama’s eligibility to stand for the office of President of the United States according to the stated qualifications of Article II, Section 1, Clause 4 of the Constitution of the United States.
“The FBI responded to my request by saying that it generally cannot release these types of personal documents without the authorization and consent of the third party unless the public interest in disclosure outweighs the personal privacy interest and that significant public benefit would result from the disclosure of the requested records,” Archibald said. “In this situation I think that the public interest would be served from a full disclosure by President Obama.”
Robert Bauer, also named in the suit, was Assistant to the President and White House Counsel from December 2009 until June 2011, and advised President Obama and other Obama administration officials during April and May 2011 when Archibald’s FOIA request and subsequent letters were received and considered by the FBI, the White House and administration staff.
“As a career news reporter and book author with credentialed Congressional and the House experience over many years, I have faced stonewalling and cover-up by many presidential administrations and politicians of all persuasions,” Archibald said. “It doesn’t work.”
US District Court Judge Reggie Walton is expected to schedule a hearing on the matter within the next 60 days.
Berryville resident, George Archibald has petitioned the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to compel the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and former White House Counsel Robert Bauer to produce documents that Archibald says may provide new insight into whether the President’s mother forfeited his US citizenship when Obama was just six-years-old.
If Archibald’s suspicion is correct it would raise important questions about the legitimacy of Obama’s qualifications to hold the office of President of the United States.
“I’m not a ‘birther,’’’ Archibald said after filing his lawsuit. “I’m simply interested in getting to the bottom of what appears to be stone-walling by the administration against my Freedom of Information request.”
In the suit, filed on November 16 in the District of Columbia, Archibald alleges that a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request that he filed with the FBI’s Winchester, Virginia office on April 15, 2011 asking for information produced during the FBI’s background check of presidential candidate Barack Hussein Obama II was improperly rejected. In the FOIA request Archibald asks for “information regarding Obama’s birth in 1961, family background, citizenship, residency, immigration, expatriation/repatriation, and other matters related to Obama’ s origins and nationality generated during the FBI’s 2008 investigation of presidential candidates.”
Archibald’s request is based on President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Executive Order 10450, “Security Requirements for Government Employment,” issued in 1953. Under the Eisenhower directive, the FBI conducts background checks on all presidential candidates. Archibald is seeking information that may have turned up in the FBI investigation related to Barach Obama’s citizenship status after his mother wed an Indonesian citizen.
Archibald believes that after Obama’s mother, Stanley Ann Dunham Soetoro, arrived in Djakarta with her young son in 1967, who he says was adopted by stepfather Lolo Soetoro, Barry Obama maintained permanent residency and schooling in Indonesia until 1971 before returning to Honolulu in 1979 to live with his maternal grandparents where he attended high school and later graduated. Archibald contends that Indonesian authorities would have required the young Obama to naturalize in order to remain in the country and attend school.
“The fact that your mother, Stanley Ann Dunham Soetoro, took you [Barach Obama] to live in Indonesia in 1967, at age six, after she had divorced your father and married Indonesian national Lolo Soetoro – where after arrival at Djakarta you both were temporarily refused admission by Indonesian authorities, who balked at your dual U.S.-Kenya nationality,” Archibald said in an open letter to Obama asking the President to release the information requested in the lawsuit.
“Your mother responded upon requirement of the Djakarta government authorities by having you legally adopted as a minor child by your Indonesian citizen stepfather Lolo Soetoro; your adoptive name was changed to Barry Soetoro; your claim to U.S. nationality was renounced; and you were legally naturalized as an Indonesian citizen,” the letter continues.
Archibald believes that the FBI may be holding information related to Mr. Obama’s eligibility to stand for the office of President of the United States according to the stated qualifications of Article II, Section 1, Clause 4 of the Constitution of the United States.
“The FBI responded to my request by saying that it generally cannot release these types of personal documents without the authorization and consent of the third party unless the public interest in disclosure outweighs the personal privacy interest and that significant public benefit would result from the disclosure of the requested records,” Archibald said. “In this situation I think that the public interest would be served from a full disclosure by President Obama.”
Robert Bauer, also named in the suit, was Assistant to the President and White House Counsel from December 2009 until June 2011, and advised President Obama and other Obama administration officials during April and May 2011 when Archibald’s FOIA request and subsequent letters were received and considered by the FBI, the White House and administration staff.
“As a career news reporter and book author with credentialed Congressional and the House experience over many years, I have faced stonewalling and cover-up by many presidential administrations and politicians of all persuasions,” Archibald said. “It doesn’t work.”
US District Court Judge Reggie Walton is expected to schedule a hearing on the matter within the next 60 days.
No comments:
Post a Comment