Attorney General's testimony makes it clear that the White House - RNC - DOJ Stonewall Continues WASHINGTON, April 19 -- After weeks of stonewalling, contradictions and misleading statements, it has become increasingly difficult to uncover the truth hidden in the maze of misstatements and contradictions about the firing of eight US Attorneys. After evading questions for months, Americans still don't know which key members of the Bush Administration were involved in this scandal. Just this morning, Attorney General Gonzales' performance made it clear that the stonewalling and contradictions will continue.
One thing that has become increasingly clear as the number of unanswered questions continues to grow is that the widening scandal reaches the top levels of the Bush Administration, and possibly the Oval Office. In an attempt to begin to uncover the truth about the conduct of the Bush Administration in this scandal, the Democratic National Committee sent a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request on March 19, 2007, co-signed by 60,000 Democrats from across the country, asking the Department of Justice to release all communications with their top officials to or from the Republican National Committee relating to the firing of the US Attorneys. The DNC request also included all e-mails to or from the Justice Department from White House officials using the RNC e- mail accounts. To date, the Justice Department has not acknowledged or responded to our request as required by law. Today, the DNC filed a lawsuit demanding this information from the Justice Department.
The DNC's FOIA asks for "all-emails messages in the possession, custody or control of the Office of Attorney General, Office of the Deputy Attorney General and Office of the Associate Attorney General, sent on or after November 1, 2004, to or from any e-mail address including the domain name GWB43.com.'" The request also covers "all documents in the possession,custody or control of the Office of Attorney General, Office of the Deputy Attorney General and Office of the Associate Attorney General, prepared on or after November 1, 2004, constituting, reflecting or referring to communications to or from or to any officer or employee of the Republican National Committee or any state or local Republican Party committee, referring, relating to or discussing (1) any prospective or ongoing investigation or prosecution; (2) initiating any investigation or prosecution; or (3) the appointment or termination of any United States Attorney; or (4) the performance, work or activity of any United States Attorney or Office of United States Attorney."
Over the past few weeks, various news reports indicate that 50 White House staffers were given RNC e-mail accounts, some of which may have been used to communicate with the Justice Department about the politically-motivated firings of a number of US Attorneys. As many as five million of the e-mails sent by White House staffers using the RNC accounts have since been deleted
. And, it was reported that "President Bush's lawyers told the Republican National Committee on Tuesday not to turn over to Congress any e-mails related to the firings last year of eight U.S. attorneys before showing them to the White House."
Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean issued the following
statement:
"The American people deserve the truth, not more changing stories,
missing e-mails, and finger pointing. For six years now, the Bush
Administration has put its politics ahead of what's best for America. Last
November, the American people overwhelmingly voted for change and a
government that is accountable to their interests. It's time for the Bush
White House and Republican National Committee to stop stonewalling and
release these communications."
To read the DNC's complaint against the Justice Department, go to:
http://www.democrats.org/DNCvUSDOJ
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=ind_focus.story&STORY=/www/story/04-19-2007/0004569628&EDATE=THU+Apr+19+2007,+02:53+PM
http://www.democrats.org/a/2007/04/dnc_lawsuit_to.php
http://www.democrats.org.
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree
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