Watchdog Tries to Sue Bushies

23 May 2007 // Left-wing group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is going to try to pull off a near-impossible task: suing a branch of the White House. It's something that legal beagles in Washington try to do from time to time, but usually can’t accomplish under the law.

CREW’s suit calls for the Office of Administration, a component of the Executive Office of the President, to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request for records regarding missing White House emails. Citing two confidential sources, CREW claims that more than 5 million emails are missing.

CREW chief Melanie Sloan, a former federal prosecutor who heads the legal watchdog group, charges that the White House “has decided to play an unlawful game of high-tech hide and seek with the American public.”

The White House didn’t appear to be too concerned about this latest suit. A spokesman tells The Mouth of the Potomac, “The liberal group CREW launched their attack over a month ago. At that time, we said we are not sure how CREW came up with a figure of 5 million, or arrived at the conclusion that White House emails were lost. We are aware that some White House emails may not have been automatically archived on the EOP server. However, we understand that such emails may have been preserved on backup tapes.”