April 9, 2007
Gonzales Was White House Counsel When GOP Issued Laptops To Rove, Other Staffers
The L.A. Times has a new story on Monday that shines a light on even more aparrent misconduct by key White House officials serving under Pres. George W. Bush.
According to the LAT’s Tom Hamburger, the Republican National Committee issued laptops and other “back-channel” communication devices like pagers to Rove and other high-level White House aides when Bush took office in early 2001. This communication set-up came to light during the criminal trial of now-convicted Scooter Libby, Vice-President Dick Cheney’s former Chief of Staff.
Hamburger reports that “Democrats say evidence suggests the RNC e-mail system was used for political and government policy matters in violation of federal record preservation and disclosure rules.”
The brunt of the time that this was happening, it was under the watch of then White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, in violation of federal law.
Under the Presidential Records Act, a sitting President and White House staff must take all practical steps to file personal records separately from Presidential records.
It provides an exception, howoever, under 44.U.S.C.§2201(3) for personal materials that aren’t required to be preserved:
(3) The term “personal records” means all documentary materials, or any reasonably segregable portion thereof, of a purely private or nonpublic character which do not relate to or have an effect upon the carrying out of the constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties of the President. Such term includes–
(A) diaries, journals, or other personal notes serving as the functional equivalent of a diary or journal which are not prepared or utilized for, or circulated or communicated in the course of, transacting Government business;
(B) materials relating to private political associations, and having no relation to or direct effect upon the carrying out of constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties of the President; and
(C) materials relating exclusively to the President’s own election to the office of the Presidency; and materials directly relating to the election of a particular individual or individuals to Federal, State, or local office, which have no relation to or direct effect upon the carrying out of constitutional, statutory, or other official or ceremonial duties of the President.
Rep. Henry Waxman (Dem. - Calif.) requested e-mails last week from the RNC and Bush-Cheney ‘04 campaign committtee to reveal the extent of how the Presidential Records Act may have been violated by White House employees attempting to hide work-related communications under the guise of a non-work exemption.
[…] Rove is accused of deleting his RNC e-mails that he is accused of using to evade complying with the federal law requiring White House employees to preserve their […]
[…] e-mail in connection that he used for White House correspondence. That’s a violation of federal law, specifically, the Presidential Records Act whose purpose is to mandate the preservation of all […]