Report: Bush aides may have circumvented records act

The destruction of e-mails from top White House officials “could be the most serious breach of the Presidential Records Act in the 30-year history of the law,” according to an interim report from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. 

{mosads}The committee is investigating the use of non-White House e-mail accounts issued to senior staffers and whether these violate the Presidential Records Act. According to the interim report, which was released Monday, there is “evidence of potentially extensive violations” of the law.

The committee said 88 officials, a number higher than the White House has said, held Republican National Committee (RNC) and Bush–Cheney ’04 campaign e-mail accounts and used these to conduct official White House business.

The report also stated that the RNC has not preserved e-mails for 51 of the officials.

Susan Ralston, a former executive assistant of top White House aide Karl Rove, testified in a deposition that many of these staffers used their RNC accounts on a regular basis.

The Presidential Records Act, put in place following the Watergate scandal, requires administrations to document and maintain records of the White House decision-making process.

“The evidence obtained by the Committee indicates that White House officials used their RNC e-mail accounts in a manner that circumvented these requirements,” the report states.

But Rep. Tom Davis (Va.), the ranking Republican on the oversight committee, blasted the report, saying the evidence presented does not justify the “breathless conclusions” it reaches.

“Good oversight is grounded in being thorough and complete,” said Davis, adding, “Everything about this report overreaches and prejudges.”

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), however, said the report shows that “this administration’s penchant for secrecy and disdain for oversight seems to know no bounds.”

Leahy called the actions of White House officials an “extensive end-run around the laws” that “leads one to wonder what these officials wanted to hide from the public and Congress.”

The committee will continue its investigation by seeking to determine what role the White House played in failing to preserve the e-mails. A focal point of this probe will be Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who served as White House counsel when President Bush took office.

The report indicated that the panel would take a more confrontational approach as the investigation widens.

“The Committee may need to issue compulsory process to the Bush-Cheney ’04 campaign,” according to the report. “The campaign acknowledges that at least 11 White House officials used campaign e-mails, but it refuses to identify the full list of officials or provide basic statistical information to the Committee. This recalcitrance is an unwarranted obstacle to the Committee’s inquiry into potential violations of the Presidential Records Act.”