Independent counsel subpoenas records in White House e-mail probe

April 24, 2000
Web posted at: 5:20 p.m. EDT (2120 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Independent Counsel Robert Ray has subpoenaed records from the National Archives in an attempt to determine whether the White House deliberately withheld electronic mail messages in an attempt to stymie investigations pertaining to the Monica Lewinsky affair and other Clinton Administration controversies, a government official told CNN on Monday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the subpoena was issued a week ago. Ray, the successor to Independent Counsel Ken Starr, is trying to determine if e-mails covered by past subpoenas were deliberately withheld from investigators who were looking into alleged presidential or administration misconduct in matters ranging from the Whitewater investigation to the Lewinsky affair.

The National Archives is the government's official record keeper and it assists the White House in its electronic mail archiving efforts.

Asked about the new subpoena, White House spokesman Jim Kennedy said: "We have always been clear about our intention to cooperate fully, and we are working hard to research the backup tapes and provide any responsive materials to the appropriate parties."

The Associated Press also reported Monday that the Independent Counsel's office is conducting interviews of witnesses in the e-mail controversy jointly with the Justice Department's Campaign Finance Task Force for efficiency's sake.

Ray's office and the task force have been investigating whether the White House has obstructed justice in the way it has handled thousands of missing White House e-mail messages -- many of them involving Vice President Al Gore -- that may have escaped the reach of subpoenas issued by Congress, by the Independent Counsel's office, and by the Justice Department's task force .

Neille Mallon Russell, a spokeswoman for Ray's office, declined comment on the subpoena. Ray was appointed last year after Starr stepped down.

The subpoena comes as Ray's office is trying to complete the six-year investigation into various Clinton Administration matters. Ray also is attempting to decide whether the president should be indicted when he leaves office.

A spokeswoman for the archives said it will comply with Ray's subpoena.

"The National Archives received a grand jury subpoena from the Independent Counsel relating to record keeping practices in the Executive Office of the President and intends to comply as required," archives spokeswoman Susan Cooper said.

Under the Presidential Records Act of 1978, the National Archives advises White House employees about managing presidential records, but does not take full custody of such records until a president leaves office.

Technical problem led to controversy

At issue is a technical problem that may have occurred as early as 1994 in the White House e-mail archiving system -- an automated record management system known as "ARMS" -- that resulted in the improper scanning, logging and archiving of incoming, external e-mails to nearly 500 White House personnel, many of them high-ranking.

The White House has said that the technical problem may have kept some e-mail files -- which some estimate to number in the hundreds of thousands -- from being searched or handed over in response to a series of subpoenas issued by a variety of investigators.

The White House said it has turned over more than 7,000 pieces of e-mail in response to the subpoenas, and that any e-mails that mention any of the matters under investigation are likely to be duplicates.

The first indication that Ray's office was investigating the e-mail controversy came in March, when the Justice Department said that the Independent Counsel was looking into issues raised by the matter. The department was responding to Rep. Dan Burton's call that a special counsel be appointed to investigate the missing e-mail. The department also said the task force looking into fund-raising practices was investigating as well.

Burton, an Indiana Republican, chairs the House Government Reform Committee, which held hearings on the e-mail issue in March.

At those hearings, several Northrop Grumman contract employees charged with operating the White House e-mail system testified that White House officials had threatened to have them jailed if the problem was disclosed. The employees said the problem was technical in nature, but the White House nonetheless wanted to keep it a secret.

The White House officials in question, Mark Lindsay and Laura Callahan, acknowledged in their own testimony that they did request that contract staffers not discuss the computer problems, but rejected claims that those staffers had been threatened.

Most of those who testified said they did not believe the problem was actually caused by the White House, nor did the White House tell them to destroy any e-mails.

At a subsequent House Government Reform Committee hearing, White House Counsel Beth Nolan testified that "to the best of (her) knowledge" she has found "no evidence" that anyone in the Executive Office of the President "attempted to withhold or hide responsive e-mail records," and that no one in either her office nor the White House office "was advised of allegations of threats surrounding this matter."

When the president was informed of the e-mail problem, Nolan said, his response was that he "wanted to make sure that we had produced everything we could produce and that we were looking into what to do."

Nolan told the House committee that as early as 1998, when several of the investigations were still active, both then-White House deputy chief of staff John Podesta and then-White House Counsel Charles Ruff were informed about the e-mail problems.

But Nolan said there was a "disconnect" inside the White House in which technical experts understood the magnitude of the problem but presidential lawyers did not suspect it affected ongoing investigations.

Nolan also told the committee that the computer problem afflicting the White House electronic messaging system could be resolved as early as September -- well before the fall elections.

Original White House estimates had established a time frame of up to two years to retrieve the errant e-mails.

CNN's John King and The Associated Press contributed to this report.