US court blocks bid to get evidence from Tinubu in FOIA suit
- A US federal court in Washington has refused Aaron Greenspan's request to gather evidence from President Bola Tinubu and DCI Group.
- The judge said the issues Greenspan wanted to raise were not closely tied to the FOIA case against the FBI and DEA.
- The court also turned down his summary judgment motion and a friend-of-the-court request by Karl Von Batten.
A federal court in Washington, D.C. has turned down a request by Aaron Greenspan to gather evidence from President Bola Tinubu and the lobbying firm DCI Group, according to statements from lawyers involved in the matter.
The ruling was given on Friday, 30 October 2026, by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. It concerns a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) case that Greenspan is pursuing against two US agencies, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Greenspan wanted the court to allow limited discovery from Tinubu and DCI Group so he could examine claims that his website was hit by cyberattacks. The court found that those claims were not closely enough connected to the records dispute at the heart of the FOIA suit, and refused the application.
What the court decided
In the same set of decisions, the judge rejected Greenspan's motion for summary judgment, which would have ended part of the case in his favour without a full trial. The court also declined his request for judicial notice, a step that asks a judge to accept certain facts without proof.
Separately, Karl Von Batten, who is not a party to the case, asked for permission to file an amicus curiae brief, often called a friend-of-the-court submission. That request was also refused.
Christopher W. Carmichael, a lawyer commenting on the outcome, said the ruling showed that a FOIA proceeding cannot be stretched to cover matters outside the legal questions before the court. "The Court's decision makes clear that this Freedom of Information Act proceeding cannot be used to pursue discovery unrelated to the legal questions before it," he said.
Oluwole Afolabi, another attorney, confirmed that the summary judgment motion and the amicus request were both denied. He said the decisions set out clear procedural limits, while the main FOIA questions are still to be settled.
"While the underlying FOIA issues remain before the Court, these rulings establish important procedural boundaries and clarify which matters are appropriate for consideration in this litigation," Afolabi said.
What happens next
The FOIA litigation involving the FBI and the DEA is still running. For now, the court has drawn a line around what can be examined in that case, and the request to question Tinubu or DCI Group through discovery has been set aside.
Nothing in the ruling amounts to a finding of wrongdoing by the president or the firm. The court's focus was on procedure, not on the merits of the cyberattack claims.
