At the request of Congressman Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) opened an inquiry last year into the Red Cross.
"I would like to respectfully request that you consider us meeting face-to-face rather than requesting information via letter and end the GAO inquiry that is currently underway," Red Cross CEO Gail McGovern wrote to Thompson in a June 2014 letter obtained by and ProPublica NPR.
In her letter, McGovern also suggested that, in lieu of the investigation, Thompson call her directly with any questions about the agency.
In a statement, Thompson criticized McGovern's request to nix the investigation:
"Over time, the public has come to accept the American Red Cross as a key player in the nation's system for disaster relief. It is unfortunate that in light of numerous allegations of mismanagement, the American Red Cross would shun accountability, transparency and simple oversight."
The GAO inquiry continued despite McGovern's appeal. The office's final report is expected to be released next month, according to a GAO spokesman, ProPublica and NPR reported.
Despite McGovern's claims of transparency from the Red Cross, her response to the GAO probe is not the first time the organization has resisted requests for more information about its work.
Last year, the Red Cross fought a ProPublica public records request about its Superstorm Sandy response by hiring a law firm and citing “trade secrets.”
It has also declined to detail its spending in response to the Haiti earthquake. The Red Cross' rules barring the release of financial information in its Haiti contracts has been questioned in the Senate.
