Not surprisingly, the senators made the case that this applies to the Homan controversy. The DOJ’s Office of Information Policy, which handles FOIA requests, nevertheless rejected the senators’ request, telling them it “determined that your request for expedited processing should be denied” — effectively concluding that an expedited review was unwarranted because the Homan controversy isn’t “a matter of widespread and exceptional media interest.”

Whitehouse, Blumenthal and Schiff are now pushing back, telling the DOJ office in a letter sent late last week:

Here, the government’s decision to close a corruption investigation into a high-ranking White House official who was caught taking bribe money from undercover officers spawned a deluge of media coverage, reflecting widespread and exceptional media interest. And Homan’s reported acceptance of the $50,000 bribe from undercover agents, the inability of Homan or any other government official to account for that money, the lack of clarity on whether Homan paid taxes on it or declared it on his required financial disclosures, and the abrupt closure of the investigation once Homan became a White House official all raise questions about the government’s integrity that affect public confidence.

Challenging the DOJ’s findings, the Democratic lawmakers added that the controversy is “undoubtedly” a matter of widespread media interest, “as reflected in the in-depth and intense coverage of Homan’s undercover sting beginning last fall,” which “more than satisfies” the legal requirement.

It’s important to emphasize the DOJ hasn’t formally denied the senators’ request for the relevant documents; it has denied their request to address the matter quickly. That said, the Democrats believe the law is on their side for an expedited review, and additional resistance would open the door to a potential lawsuit......

MS NOW’s Ken Dilanian explained online after the controversy first broke, “To settle this, it would be great if the White House would release the case files and any FBI recordings of Homan’s meetings with undercover agents posing as businessmen.”

To date, that hasn’t happened.