Two watchdog groups sued Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday over notes from a private meeting President Trump had with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2017 in Hamburg, Germany.
The lawsuit, filed by Democracy Forward and American Oversight in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, claims Pompeo broke the law by refusing to address Trump’s “unlawful” seizure of an interpreter’s notes.
The groups say Pompeo’s inaction violates the Federal Records Act, which requires the State Department to “notify the National Archives when meeting notes are seized or destroyed, to recover those notes, and to refer the incident to the attorney general for enforcement action.”
The State Department, National Archives and Records Administration, and Archivist of the United States David Ferriero are also named as defendants.
Trump has met with Putin on at least five occasions during his presidency. The lawsuit comes ahead of the G-20 summit in Japan later this month, during which Trump could meet with Putin again.
“Secretary Pompeo is breaking the law by allowing President Trump’s unlawful seizure of agency records to go unchecked,” Democracy Forward executive director Anne Harkavy said in a statement. “On the eve of another meeting between Presidents Trump and Putin, Secretary Pompeo’s actions ensure that our relationship with Russia remains shrouded in secrecy, with the American government left in the dark.”
