Judicial Watch says it will sue the federal government if it doesn’t hand over communications relating to the arrest of 2016: Obama’s America star Dinesh D’Souza.
For now, Judicial Watch has filed a FOIA request to gain the information, but the nonpartisan group warns legal action may be needed to force the government into transparency.
The group wants to see if D’Souza’s arrest had a political component. 2016 proved a sleeper smash, becoming the second most popular political documentary of all time two years ago. It casts a decidedly critical eye on both President Barack Obama as well as his early influences.
The government has 30 days to hand over the material or a lawsuit will begin, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Group president Tom Fitton predicts that will be necessary.
It’s unlikely that government bureaucrats will respond as the law requires,” Fitton said. “Too often, we have to sue. A lawsuit is always a viable option.”
In January, D’Souza was arrested for making illegal campaign contributions to Wendy Long, who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate, and several notable people have speculated the arrest was politically motivated, including liberal attorney Alan Dershowitz and Sen. Ted Cruz.
Fitton says the fact that D’Souza, a driving force behind this summer’s upcoming film America, got caught via a standard investigation doesn’t pass the smell test.
That’s just fanciful. The FBI doesn’t routinely review Federal Election Commission records,” Fitton said. “Somehow, we suspect something else is going on here – that it’s retaliation. Frankly, I’m surprised there’s not more media interest in this. It was a major film from a major conservative figure, and the media assumes everything the Department of Justice does is above board?