Last month, in our report, Without a Trace, CREW announced the startling revelation that the White House “lost” over five million emails generated between March 2003 and October 2005.  We had confidential sources who provided this groundbreaking news.   White House spokesperson Dana Perino stated she could not "take issue" with our report.  

This week, CREW filed a lawsuit against the White House Office of Administration (OA) to obtain information about the "missing" e-mails.   Our suit is based on a FOIA request filed with the OA on March 29, 2007 for records regarding the over five million missing emails. Although on April 27, 2007, the OA agreed to expedite CREW’s FOIA request, the OA has yet to provide CREW with so much as a single document.  Not a single document.  The documents relating to the lawsuit can be found here.

When we filed the lawsuit against the White House OA, Melanie Sloan made this statement::

This White House has decided to play an unlawful game of high-tech hide and seek with the American public. Thus far, CREW has learned that the Administration has both lost five million White House emails and pro-actively tried to cover up the loss. CREW has sued the Office of Administration to shine a spotlight on these reckless and possibly illegal activities and to restore these records for the benefit of future generations.