1500 Wilson Boulevard, Floor 5

Arlington, VA 22209

Elisabeth Bumiller and Jonathan Weisman:

The New York Times published a piece on August 28, 2018, by Michael Tackett, "C.I.A. Officer-Turned-Candidate Says
PAC Obtained Her Security Application."

The article led with allegations from Abigail Spanberger's campaign that America Rising Corp. on behalf of the
Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) had illegally obtained her SF-86 personnel form.

What is most concerning and troubling is that The New York Times accepted the false allegations and speculation from the
Spanberger campaign at face value without reaching out to America Rising and / or the United States Postal Service
(USPS) to verify the information. Neither did the article state whether The New York Times conducted its own proper due
diligence to verify the Spanberger campaign's claims through a number of means including submitting its own FOIA for
Spanberger's records and filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for America Rising's FOIA to independently assess
how the documents became available.

Aside from two brief paragraphs acknowledging CLF's statement that it follows the letter of the law in gathering
information regarding its opponents, the article essentially republishes Ms. Spanberger’s letter in full, replete with her
several demonstrably false and irresponsible theories about how her records were obtained. As reporting by other news
outlets has now demonstrated, the reporter could have debunked each of these theories and learned the truth about this
matter--- that the document was lawfully obtained from the U.S. Government through a FOIA request --- with one call to
the USPS. The independent agency has today confirmed to another reporter that it provided Spanberger's unredacted
clearance application in response to a lawful FOIA request by America Rising.

America Rising submitted a standard FOIA request seeking information from the National Personnel Records Center,
which was referred to the USPS, an independent agency. The USPS responded to America Rising's request with their
complete personnel file, which included Spanberger's SF-86. America Rising did not specifically request the SF-86.

A reporter from BuzzFeed contacted the United States Postal Service and was able to verify that the agency had indeed
released Spanberger's entire, unredacted personnel file in their response to the FOIA.

Requesting personnel records of candidates who have worked in the federal government is standard fare for both political
parties.

The USPS may have made a mistake in not redacting personal information in their response to America Rising but
America Rising does not provide out personal information to the press like home addresses or Social Security numbers.

By forgoing its journalistic responsibilities, The New York Times published false and misleading allegations that led to
accusations of criminal activity or potential hacking.

We would like to request an official correction to the original piece to explain this timeline fully.

Sincerely,

Joe Pounder
CEO
America Rising Corp.