FBI Ordered to Produce Information From Seth Rich’s Laptop

The FBI must provide information from Seth Rich’s laptop computer to a Texas man, a federal judge ruled on Nov. 28. The bureau’s attempt to challenge an earlier order to produce the information failed to persuade U.S. District Judge Amos Mazzant, who said the bureau’s assertions of exemptions to a federal law were unsupported. Judge Mazzant, appointed under President Barack Obama, ordered the FBI in September 2022 to hand over information from Mr. Rich’s computer to the Texas man, who had asked for it under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The FBI claimed that Mr. Rich’s family members had a privacy interest in the information that outweighed the public interest, a claim Judge Mazzant rejected. But the bureau said in a motion for reconsideration that he did not appear to weigh exemptions in FOIA that would allow the agency to keep withholding the information, and the judge placed a hold on his ruling until he weighed in on the motion....