Request 019 — 1/19/2026

It’s like Christmas Eve and the night before the Superbowl all rolled into one.

Happy Monday! It’s foiaday!

I can’t believe it; it’s officially week three of foiaday. There’s nothing quite like a daily email project that ensures you’re able to keep track of time.

Today is January 19th, and I’ve made… give or take, 46 requests. Decidedly more than 19.

And yes! I’ve gotten some back. 🎉 We’ll go into that later in the email. To start, let’s request some FOIA logs from NARA, aka the National Archives.

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But first: did you know that tomorrow is a big day?

It is for journalists, government transparency advocates, historians and political operatives, at least.

It’s because records from Trump’s first term are officially FOIA-able.

Here’s a brief writeup from the Freedom of the Press Foundation about the records, which you can request starting tomorrow, from the National Archives. (Of course, if they weren’t shredded or flushed or stored somewhere in a back office at a country club.)

NARA has some FOIA logs available for viewing on their website, and they break it out based on general requests and requests for specific presidential records. A quick trip down an Obama administration FOIA log is illuminating, to say the least:

So. This is a simple, short request, but here’s what I’m sending over to NARA, today, at least:

The most recent FOIA log for NARA, including the requester's name, a description or body of the request, the outcome of the request and the date the request was filed. If possible, please include all requests filed between 1/1/2025 and the present (1/19/2026). Please release the document in a .pdf or .xlsx format if possible. 

It’s like Christmas Eve and the night before the Superbowl all rolled into one. Other reporters might be familiar with the deep-seated dread, adrenaline, preemptive exhaustion and nausea that settles into your bones the week of any election. It feels kind of like that to me.

I’m eager to see what comes back from people’s requests tomorrow, especially from Jason Leopold. (Shameless plug: he and I will be speaking about FOIA at this year’s Sunshine Fest in DC in March — get your tickets!)

Okay, updates!

Yesterday, I published an unintentional weekend roundup of requests, which spanned a good amount of ground. (It also has one of my favorite requests so far, about snow plow naming contests.) Check it out here. ☃️

Documents are starting to be uploaded and sorted out in this DocumentCloud project.

That said, a survey for my email folks:

I’m trying to figure out if an additional email with quick hits about each document is the best path forward. Some of these documents are fascinating, and I want to give them room to breathe! A separate email would probably look like an additional, once- or twice-weekly short dispatch about one record specifically.

Anyway. Mull it over. Let’s get to updates about what’s returned!

• 002 — Illinois Secretary of State rejected vanity plate apps

  • While the original request was approved by ILSOS, the follow-up request that I filed, which was for any reasoning given to plate request denials, turned up no responsive records. (Womp womp.)

  • In my quest to understand and psychoanalyze the choices made by the Secretary of State’s office about vanity plate applications, I’ve neglected to share the returned document itself. Feel free to peruse it here!

• 006 — Chicago Animal Care and Control records (stuff about my dog + animal inventory)

  • My main goal with this request was to get some more pictures of my dog, Louie, and CACC pulled through:

    

  • Look at that smiling mug!!

  • The rest of the records, including an inventory of animals and records retention schedules, are here.

• 007 — City of Naperville records (code enforcement + records retention)

  • I just got these back today, which was a surprise to me considering the holiday! I sent in a big ask — code enforcement, plus records retention schedules for a large municipality. They delivered, and on time! (Thank you, Naperville!)

  • I’ve had zero time to check them out other than a cursory glance on my phone. I can’t wait to dive in.

  • You can check out the records returned here, in the DocumentCloud project with the tag “naperville”.

And some requests that are in progress:

• 003 — Police ChatGPT logs

  • I’m not saying all three agencies are struggling with the request; not at all. In fairness, it’s a new type of request (for most agencies) with a lot of ground to cover. All three agencies are taking time to continue either vetting and redacting responses or to continue searching for records.

As promised, here's a list of the requests I’ve put in so far for the past week. If you’re curious, you can click the slug name in order to read the corresponding foiaday issue and the request language in the archives:

If you have any ideas for requests, feedback, or thoughts about foiaday, we now have a form! Feel free to pop by to share inspiration to help get me through this year’s worth of requests.

Feedback + requests form!

Otherwise, if you have any questions, comments, love letters or conspiracy theories, you can always drop me a line by replying to this email.

Weekly subscribers, you’ll see me in your inbox next Monday with a summary of how this week goes. Daily subscribers, I’ll see you tomorrow! (And if you want to change your subscription, you can always do so at the bottom of these emails!)

Happy filing, and have a good week!

Cam