According to Waxman’s letter to Mike Duncan, Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Waxman mentions email exchanges on non-government email accounts regarding Jack Abramoff:
“The Oversight Committee first learned of the use of nongovernmental e-mail accounts by White House officials as part of its investigation of White House contacts with convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff. That investigation found that many of the e-mail exchanges between Jack Abramoff and White House officials were conducted via nongovernmental e-mail accounts.
In at least one case, the e-mails indicate that these nonofficial accounts were being used because "to put this stuff in writing in their e-mail system ... might actually limit what they can do to help us.”
The Abramoff investigation found that in multiple instances, Susan Ralston, Karl Rove's Executive Assistant, exchanged e-mails with Jack Abramoff regarding official government business while using accounts maintained by the Republican National Committee and the Bush Cheney '04 campaign.' The investigation also found that Barry Jackson, the Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy to the Senior Advisor, used a ‘georgewbush.com’ e-mail account to communicate with Neil Volz, an Abramoff associate who has been convicted of public corruption charges.3
The e-mail exchanges reviewed by the Committee provide evidence that in some
instances, White House officials were using the nongovernmental accounts specifically to avoid creating a record of the communications. In one case, Mr. Abramoff sent Ms. Ralston an e-mail on her RNC account asking her to pass on to Karl that Interior is about to approve a gaming compact ... for a tribe which is an anathema to all our supporters" and requesting "some quiet message from WH that this is absurd." This e-mail was forwarded to Jennifer Farley in the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, who apparently then warned one of Abramoff’s associates about the dangers of leaving a record of their communications. According to an e-mail Mr. Abramoff received from his associate Kevin Ring:
Your e-mail to Susan was forwarded to Ruben Barrales and on to Jen Farley, who read it
to me last night. I don't know what to think about this, but she said it is better not to put
this stuff in writing in their e-mail system because it might actually limit what they can
do to help us, especially since there could be lawsuits, etc. ... Just letting you know what
she said.”
What I noticed is reference 3 from Waxman letter of the email account:
“E-mail from Barry Jackson to Neil Volz (Mar. 12, 2003) (GTG-R0O4577) (asking about
a recommendation for the medal of freedom). According to the WHOIS internet database, the georgewbush.com domain is registered to the Bush-Cheney 2004 campaign. See
www. networksolutions. com/whois/results jsp? domain:georgewbush. com.”
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