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Rove in new controversy over
e-mails
Steve Holland
Reuetrs
Saturday April 14, 2007
White House political adviser Karl Rove was embroiled in a new
controversy over potentially missing e-mails on Friday, the latest
twist in the firings of eight U.S. prosecutors last year.
The White House disclosed that the Republican National Committee
in early 2006 took away Rove's ability to delete e-mails sent and
received through a party e-mail account.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino had no explanation for why
the RNC, the governing arm of President George W. Bush's political
party, would stop Rove from deleting e-mails.
Democrats looking into the Justice Department's firing of eight
U.S. attorneys last year, which critics say appeared to be politically
motivated, are seeking Rove's testimony and documentary evidence
to determine whether he was involved.
The White House revealed this week Rove and 21 other White House
officials have for years kept e-mail accounts through the RNC to
conduct political business without violating the Hatch Act, which
forbids government employees from using government property like
handheld computer devices for partisan activities.
Democrats want to know whether Rove and the others conducted government
business on the party's e-mail accounts as well to get around record-keeping
requirements under the Presidential Records Act and avoid leaving
a paper trail.
Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, said Rove never intentionally deleted
e-mails from any e-mail accounts.
"Karl always thought that all of his e-mails were archived,
no matter which account he used. Consequently he never used a political
e-mail account to avoid creating a record," Luskin said.
He added that Rove never tried to get his e-mails deleted and "was
unaware until very, very recently that there was any deletion of
RNC e-mails for any period."
The White House has acknowledged that Rove and others at times
conducted official business on RNC accounts and that some of this
e-mail traffic may wrongly have been deleted, including some related
to the firing of the U.S. prosecutors.
But Perino insisted any mistakes were not intentional.
"We've seen no basis to conclude that anyone intentionally
or improperly used the RNC e-mail," Perino said.
NEW DOCUMENTS
Democrats have likened the disappearance of the e-mails to a famous
18-minute gap in a White House recording of a conversation President
Richard Nixon had about the Watergate scandal that ultimately forced
his resignation in 1974.
California Democratic Rep. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House
of Representatives' government oversight committee, has said he
is concerned White House officials might have violated the Presidential
Records Act and is particularly concerned about Rove, a frequent
target of Democratic attacks.
It all adds up to another headache for Bush, who is under pressure
from Democrats and some Republicans to get rid of Attorney General
Alberto Gonzales over the firing of the U.S. prosecutors.
Ahead of Gonzales' make-or-break congressional testimony next week,
the Justice Department released a new batch of documents about the
firings.
An e-mail written by Kyle Sampson, Gonzales former chief of staff,
and dated January 9, 2006, to then-White House counsel Harriet Miers,
listed some possible replacement prosecutors to those later fired.
Sampson had told Congress last month he personally did not have
any replacements in mind at the time they were fired.
Sen. Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, said the Justice Department
still has many questions to answer.
(Additional reporting by Thomas Ferraro)
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