Introduction

The Center for Public Integrity is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates betrayals of public trust. Sign up to receive our stories.

On Thursday, the Center for Public Integrity expects to win release of at least 106 Department of Defense and White House Office of Management and Budget documents that relate to President Donald Trump’s decision to withhold military aid and security assistance to Ukraine. Additional documents are expected on Dec. 20.

Trump’s decision is a central issue in the U.S. House of Representatives’ ongoing impeachment proceedings against the president.

Public Integrity national security editor Jeff Smith requested these documents under the Freedom of Information Act, then sued in federal court earlier this year when government officials refused to release them. On Nov. 25, federal district Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly ordered the Defense Department to release the documents to Public Integrity — and quickly.

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Public Integrity’s aggressive approach to obtaining documents and data the government doesn’t want you to see — spearheaded by attorney and research editor Peter Newbatt Smith — is a cornerstone of our investigative journalism.

Consider that when it comes to filing FOIA lawsuits, Public Integrity ranks near the top of all U.S. news organizations, including those exponentially larger than our nonprofit newsroom of 27 journalists. (Only the New York Times and journalist Jason Leopold, now of BuzzFeed News, have filed more since 2001, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.)

Here are 10 other times Public Integrity scored FOIA victories that helped us advance our journalistic mission: “To protect democracy and inspire change using investigative reporting that exposes betrayals of the public trust by powerful interests.”

