WH responds to email controversy
Posted: Friday, April 13, 2007 12:05 PM by Mark Murray
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White House
From NBC's Kelly O'Donnell
Deputy White House press secretary Dana Perino says that so far in its review, the White House has found "no basis to conclude any improper intent" in the use of Republican Party email accounts that critics say allow staffers to circumvent White House record-keeping requirements. Perino says she "could not rule out" that as many as 5 million emails are missing but stressed the White House does not know the extent of what maybe lost. Twenty-two current White House staffers hold RNC email accounts -- 50 during the course of the two terms. About 1,000 people work for the Executive Office of the President. All White House official records are to be preserved indefinitely under the Presidential Records Act
Regarding Karl Rove -- who is in Portland, OR today doing fundraising -- the White House says that in 2004, his email accounts at the RNC were exempted from the RNC's practice of an automatic 30-day purge that applies to other users. In January 2006, Rove's ability to use a "double delete function" was removed so he could no longer manually delete and then empty his delete file. Officials say this applied only to Rove as far as they know now. Officials could not explain why or what prompted this.
The White House says an internal review is underway, and it has reached out to -- but not yet hired -- outside computer forensic experts to seek their expertise to determine what may be retrievable on servers. "Resources are being dedicated to resolve this quickly." Responding to charges from Democrats who claim the White House is "stonewalling", Perino acknowledges the "screw-up" has put them in "an uncomfortable position to be in." But she says the White House disclosing its mistakes on email is an effort to be fully forthcoming.
