By A government watchdog group is taking the Justice Department to court, seeking to uncover what it describes as long-concealed records tied to Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco’s alleged involvement in suppressing a sensitive appendix to Special Counsel John Durham’s 2023 report on the origins of the Trump–Russia investigation.
They claim the entire affair revolved around hiding the corruption of Barack Obama and his attempt to prevent Trump from having a successful presidency. Earlier in the year it was revealed that Obama ordered the CIA to investigate Trump’s connections to Russia.
The Center to Advance Security in America (CASA) filed the lawsuit Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, asking a federal judge to order the DOJ to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request the group submitted in late August. The request zeroed in on Monaco’s handling of an approximately 30-page appendix that accompanied Durham’s final report, writes The Federalist.
Monaco, a former homeland security and counterterrorism adviser in the Obama administration and now the Justice Department’s second-in-command, has been portrayed in prior reporting as a key figure in high-profile prosecutorial decisions during the Biden years. The appendix at issue—attached to Durham’s review of the FBI’s probe into alleged links between Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia—remained classified long after the release of the main report in 2023. It was declassified only earlier this year and reportedly described efforts within the Hillary Clinton campaign to advance claims of coordination between Trump and Russia.
A July 31, 2025, RealClearInvestigations report by journalist Paul Sperry fueled the controversy, citing sources who alleged that Monaco, prevented Special Counsel Durham from releasing the 30-pp appendix to his final report because it implicated Obama.
BREAKING: Sources say Biden deputy AG Lisa Monaco prevented Special Counsel Durham from releasing the 30-pp appendix to his final report b/c it implicated her old boss Obama. Monaco was his WH adviser who attended Brennan's fusion cell meetings +the Dec 9 2016 pow-wow to flip ICA
— Paul Sperry (@paulsperry_) August 1, 2025
That Intelligence Community Assessment concluded that Russian interference in 2016 aimed “to help President-elect Trump’s election chances.” Yet documents declassified this year by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard revealed that this judgment relied on thin and unverified intelligence while excluding contradictory evidence—information the new disclosures suggest was known to senior intelligence officials at the time.
Following Sperry’s reporting, The Federalist explained, CASA submitted a broad FOIA request on August 31 seeking records from April 21, 2021, through July 1, 2023. The list included emails, meeting invitations, call logs, and virtual chat messages involving Monaco and the appendix, along with any communications she may have exchanged with the White House, the CIA, media outlets, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, or the Obama Foundation. CASA noted in its request that the documents would be used for public education and would benefit the broader public.
Although the DOJ acknowledged receipt of the inquiry and assigned it a tracking number, CASA argues that more than 72 days have passed with no meaningful response—no documents, no explanation for potential withholdings, and no information regarding appeal rights.
In the lawsuit, CASA asks the court to compel the Justice Department to release all non-exempt records within ten days of any order, produce a detailed index justifying any redactions, and reimburse the group for attorney fees and litigation costs.
The complaint marks the latest chapter in the long-running fight over how Obama- and Biden-era officials handled intelligence and investigative materials related to the Trump-Russia allegations and their political aftermath. As of publication, the Justice Department has not commented on the case.
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