“Extensive Destruction of the E-mails of White House Officials by the RNC”

Jesse Lee at The Gavel reports: The Oversight Committee has been investigating whether White House officials violated the Presidential Records Act by using e-mail accounts maintained by the Republican National Committee and the Bush Cheney ‘04 campaign for official White House communications. This interim staff report provides a summary of the evidence the Committee has received to date, along with recommendations for next steps in the investigation. PDF files of the report and a brief synopsis of each following item is provided at the link. •The number of White House officials given RNC e-mail accounts is higher than previously disclosed. •White House officials made extensive use of their RNC e-mail accounts. •There has been extensive destruction of the e-mails of White House officials by the RNC. •There is evidence that the Office of White House Counsel under Alberto Gonzales may have known that White House officials were using RNC e-mail accounts for official business, but took no action to preserve these presidential records. There are several next steps that should be pursued in the investigation into the use of RNC e-mail accounts by White House officials. First, the records of federal agencies should be examined to assess whether they may contain some of the White House e-mails that have been destroyed by the RNC… Second, the Committee should investigate what former White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales knew about the use of political e-mail accounts by White House officials… Third, the Committee may need to issue compulsory process to obtain the cooperation of the Bush Cheney ’04 campaign. ..