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CREW wants special prosecutor in missing White House e-mails case
02/04/2008 @ 1:38 pm
Filed by Nick Juliano
An independent watchdog is asking Attorney General Michael Mukasey to
appoint a special prosecutor to investigate alleged criminal mismanagement
by the Bush administration that resulted in the disappearance of more than
10 million internal e-mails.
Ongoing lawsuits and congressional investigations have revealed that the
White House apparently failed to properly maintain e-mail archives from
March 2003 until October 2005. This also means that millions of e-mails,
which could have provided valuable insight to historians examining the inner
workings of Bush administration as it planned the Iraq war or leaked the
identity of former CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson, likely are lost forever.
Because the White House's failure to maintain its archives may have violated
federal law, including the Federal Records Act and the Presidential Records
Act, a special prosecutor is needed, says Citizens for Responsibility and
Ethics in Washington, which is suing over the lost e-mails.
"The missing emails do not belong to the Bush administration, but to the
American people," CREW's executive director Melanie Sloan said in a news
release. "The Attorney General should take action to protect the right of
future generations to look back and understand the role of White House
officials in critical events."
House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman released a report showing
473 days in which no e-mails are archived, and he's scheduled a hearing for
later this month to examine what happened. Among those days are the week
after Saddam Hussein's capture, the day the White House learned of an
investigation of the Plame leak and key dates regarding Vice President Dick
Cheney's energy task force.
The White House also has acknowledged it recycled backup computer tapes
prior to October 2003, meaning no permanent archive of e-mails from that
timeframe exists.
CREW has previously requested special prosecutors be appointed to
investigate the US Attorney firing scandal, although neither Mukasey nor his
predecessor Alberto Gonzales took such a move.
"The need for an impartial special counsel is all the more pronounced, in
light o f the recent history of improper White House involvement in, and
politicization of, the work of the Department of Justice. For example, the
administration has made clear that it will never allow the Department of
Justice to pursue criminal contempt charges initiated by Congress against
White House officials, including former White House Counsel Harriet Miers,
and several U.S. Attorneys were fired for refusing to politicize criminal
investigations," Sloan wrote in her letter to Mukasey (.pdf).
"Frankly, the Department of Justice does not have the credibility or
demonstrated independence required to investigate potentially criminal
conduct by White House officials."
02/04/2008 @ 1:38 pm
Filed by Nick Juliano
An independent watchdog is asking Attorney General Michael Mukasey to
appoint a special prosecutor to investigate alleged criminal mismanagement
by the Bush administration that resulted in the disappearance of more than
10 million internal e-mails.
Ongoing lawsuits and congressional investigations have revealed that the
White House apparently failed to properly maintain e-mail archives from
March 2003 until October 2005. This also means that millions of e-mails,
which could have provided valuable insight to historians examining the inner
workings of Bush administration as it planned the Iraq war or leaked the
identity of former CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson, likely are lost forever.
Because the White House's failure to maintain its archives may have violated
federal law, including the Federal Records Act and the Presidential Records
Act, a special prosecutor is needed, says Citizens for Responsibility and
Ethics in Washington, which is suing over the lost e-mails.
"The missing emails do not belong to the Bush administration, but to the
American people," CREW's executive director Melanie Sloan said in a news
release. "The Attorney General should take action to protect the right of
future generations to look back and understand the role of White House
officials in critical events."
House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman released a report showing
473 days in which no e-mails are archived, and he's scheduled a hearing for
later this month to examine what happened. Among those days are the week
after Saddam Hussein's capture, the day the White House learned of an
investigation of the Plame leak and key dates regarding Vice President Dick
Cheney's energy task force.
The White House also has acknowledged it recycled backup computer tapes
prior to October 2003, meaning no permanent archive of e-mails from that
timeframe exists.
CREW has previously requested special prosecutors be appointed to
investigate the US Attorney firing scandal, although neither Mukasey nor his
predecessor Alberto Gonzales took such a move.
"The need for an impartial special counsel is all the more pronounced, in
light o f the recent history of improper White House involvement in, and
politicization of, the work of the Department of Justice. For example, the
administration has made clear that it will never allow the Department of
Justice to pursue criminal contempt charges initiated by Congress against
White House officials, including former White House Counsel Harriet Miers,
and several U.S. Attorneys were fired for refusing to politicize criminal
investigations," Sloan wrote in her letter to Mukasey (.pdf).
"Frankly, the Department of Justice does not have the credibility or
demonstrated independence required to investigate potentially criminal
conduct by White House officials."
