White House touts transparency as lawsuits pile up

A White House spokesman touted the Obama administration's implementation of the Freedom of Information Act the same day a congressional committee released a scathing report about the administration's failures when it comes to FOIA.

Josh Earnest, White House press secretary, pointed to the release of roughly 30,000 of Hillary Clinton's private emails as evidence of the president's "transparency."

"There's no denying that we have made improvements," Earnest said. "You have the former secretary of state releasing all of her work-related emails consistent with the FOIA process ... I think the outcome here is evidence of the kind of commitment to transparency that the president has championed."

However, the Clinton emails were not released until a federal judge ordered the State Department to do so in a high-profile FOIA lawsuit. The case was emblematic of a common obstacle to obtaining documents from the administration: many requests go untouched by federal officials unless the requester decides to sue the government.