Correspondence regarding the First Minister's meeting with the President of the United States of America: FOI release
Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002
Information requested
Today, John Swinney revealed his Oval Office meeting was brokered by Eric Trump. He said he asked Eric to meet and did not seek a meeting with the President. Please send me a copy of this correspondence or minutes of the meeting where he asked to meet Eric Trump. Mr Swinney further revealed at 6.32am on the Friday morning before the Oval Office meeting Mr Swinney received an email saying Eric was not in the country but the President would meet him in the White House at 2pm the following Tuesday. Please send me a copy of this email.
Response
I have interpreted your request as information about how the meeting with President Trump was arranged and contact between the Scottish Government and Trump International.
It should be noted that arrangements for the meeting were made via mobile phone calls and messages between Trump International and the First Minister’s Chief of Staff. The email the First Minister referenced in the Sunday Herald article was a note from his Chief of Staff about communications received from Trump International rather than an email from Eric Trump. A record of these messages was sent separately to the Permanent Secretary. A copy of this email can be found at Annex A.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some the information you have requested because exemptions of FOISA under sections s.38(1)(b) personal information, apply to that information. The reason why that exemption applies is explained below.
An exemption under section s.38(1)(b) of FOISA applies to some of the information you have requested. This applies to personal information of officials below the senior civil servant grades.
This exemption is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption.
About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.
Contact
Please quote the FOI reference
Central Correspondence Unit
Email: contactus@gov.scot
Phone: 0300 244 4000
The Scottish Government
St Andrew's House
Regent Road
Edinburgh
EH1 3DG