White House Turns Over E-Mail Notes
The White House dropped a potential executive privilege claim Tuesday and turned over to Congress several handwritten lawyers’ notes that were being sought by investigators in the controversy over missing e-mails.
Presidential counsel Beth Nolan made the concession in a letter to Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), chairman of the House Government Reform Committee, on the eve of hearings by the panel.
At issue were notes by White House lawyers involving discussions they had with computer experts about the missing e-mail messages since the controversy erupted earlier this year.
The congressional committee and federal prosecutors are investigating why the White House, after discovering a glitch in 1998 that kept e-mails from being archived, did not retrieve the messages to determine if they should have been turned over under subpoenas issued in investigations regarding Whitewater, impeachment and political fund-raising. The White House denies allegations that the mix-up was part of an effort to obstruct the investigations.
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