Congressman Jason Chaffetz hammered the Justice Department during a hearing on Freedom of Information requests, managing to insult them four different ways in a brief period of time.
Chaffetz was responding to self-evaluations the DOJ released regarding its transparency efforts, which naturally netted them high marks.
He went after Melanie Anne Pustay, Director of the Office of Information Policy at the Justice Department, asking,
“Do you really think anybody in the world believes the Dept. of Justice is at the top of their game?”
Chaffetz followed up by telling Pustay and the DOJ, “You live in la-la-land.”
After reiterating that she lives in “fantasy land,” Chaffetz added that the problem is “you all think you’re doing a great job.”
Watch Chaffetz go off at about the 2-minute mark …
Earlier in the hearing, Chaffetz slammed the Obama administration for essentially threatening federal departments in their efforts to release information that would involve the White House. This after the President pledged to be the most transparent administration in history.
While holding up a memo showing the President lied about transparency, Chaffetz shouted,
“It’s wrong, it’s wrong, it’s wrong!”
As for the DOJ’s self-assessments – the oversight committee themselves gave the Justice Department a “D” grade on FOIA three years ago.
Does the Department of Justice or the Obama administration truly believe they’re doing a great job on transparency? Or do they live in La-La Land?
