(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The Intercept has reported that officials in Butler County, Pennsylvania, are refusing to release 911 recordings from the rally in which former President Donald Trump was nearly assassinated.
The Intercept reported Saturday that it filed a records request for the recordings shortly after the assassination attempt. On Monday, the county reportedly denied that request, citing part of the statute that generally exempts 911 recordings from disclosure.
“It is the policy of Butler County only to release 911 audio under court order or by subpoena,” a county public records clerk told The Intercept. “Therefore, the request is denied.”
The Intercept is appealing the denial. The publication said a “crucial provision” in state law gives Butler County the ability to release the 911 recordings.
“Pennsylvania agencies and courts can release 911 recordings if they determine that ‘the public interest in disclosure outweighs the interest in nondisclosure,’” the news outlet reported.
Melissa Bevan Melewsky, a media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, reportedly said that other outlets are running into similar situations.
“The carveout is there for situations where the public interest in the recordings is high, a situation like this,” Melewsky told The Intercept.
“Obviously there is huge public interest — legitimate, compelling public interest — in hearing these recordings,” added attorney Joy Ramsingh, who previously adjudicated Office of Open Records appeals.
“Potential embarrassment to the agency is not supposed to be part of the test,” she told The Intercept. “At a minimum, they need to be articulating to the public why they won’t release them. My gut tells me it has something to do with potential embarrassment to the agency.”
The 911 recordings from the July 13 Trump rally in Butler are one of the many pieces of evidence yet to be made public. Members of Congress are complaining that they’re being totally stonewalled by Homeland Security and the Secret Service.
As for Secret Service communications from that day, former Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle claimed that they weren’t recorded.
Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Christopher L. Paris also said last week that he’s yet to received the Secret Service’s operations plan for July 13. Pennsylvania State Police are conducting a parallel investigation to the FBI’s probe into the shooting.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
