WASHINGTON (AP) - An Associated Press analysis of new U.S. data finds the Obama administration in its final year spent a record $36.2 million on legal costs defending its refusal to turn over federal records under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Obama administration also set a record - for a second consecutive year - for times federal employees told citizens, journalists and others that despite searching they couldn't find a single page of files that were requested.
Recommended Videos
And it set records for outright denying access to files and refusing to quickly consider requests described as especially newsworthy.
The AP on Monday settled its 2015 lawsuit against the State Department for files about Hillary Clinton's time as secretary of state and received $150,546 from the department to cover part of its legal fees.
(Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)