CREW asked Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald to re-open his investigation of Karl Rove's role in disclosing Valerie Plame Wilson's status as a covert CIA operative in light of recent revelations about missing White House email.  Our letter to Mr. Fitzgerald can be found here.

We base this request on three key factors: 1) revelations that Karl Rove uses a Republican National Committee (RNC) email account for 95 percent of his communications; 2) the admission from the RNC's counsel that all of Mr. Rove's emails prior to 2005 have been destroyed; and 3) the acknowledgment today from White House spokesperson Dana Perino that – as CREW reported yesterday – five million emails are missing from the White House servers.

All of this raises serious questions about whether Mr. Rove knowingly destroyed evidence relevant to the Special Counsel's inquiry and whether Mr. Fitzgerald received all relevant documents.

Melanie Sloan stated our position quite clearly:

It looks like Karl Rove may well have destroyed evidence that implicated him in the White House's orchestrated efforts to leak Valerie Plame Wilson's covert identity to the press in retaliation against her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson. Special Counsel Fitzgerald should immediately reopen his investigation into whether Rove took part in the leak as well as whether he obstructed justice in the ensuing leak investigation.

CREW serves as legal counsel to the Wilsons in their civil suit against Karl Rove, Vice President Dick Cheney, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, and Richard Armitage.