Media Note: The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform today released its interim report on its Investigation of Possible Presidential Records Act Violations relating to use of RNC e-mail accounts by White House officials.  The report found widespread use of RNC e-mails by White House as well as extensive destruction of these RNC e-mails over the years.  

The report can be accessed at  www.oversight.house.gov

Below is Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy’s comment on the report’s findings. 

Comment Of Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.,
Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee,
On The House Committee On Oversight And Government Reform
Report On RNC E-Mails
June 18, 2007

“This Administration’s penchant for secrecy and disdain for oversight seems to know no bounds.  It is troubling that so many senior White House officials, including Karl Rove and his former deputy Sara Taylor, were engaging in an effort to avoid oversight and accountability by ignoring the laws meant to ensure a public record of official government business.   This extensive end-run around the laws leads one to wonder what these officials wanted to hide from the public and Congress.

“This report indicates that Mr. Rove and Ms. Taylor were some of the heaviest users of these RNC e-mail accounts, and both officials have been linked to a project to fire several Department of Justice prosecutors that is currently the subject of congressional investigations. Now that we know more than 100,000 of Mr. Rove’s secret e-mails have not been destroyed, I hope the White House will respond to my request for any e-mails from his account that are relevant to the Judiciary Committee’s investigation.  I look forward to Ms. Taylor searching the thousands of e-mails from her account in accordance with a subpoena she was issued last week.”

# # # # #