WASHINGTON, April 2 (UPI) -- A U.S. House committee is investigating claims that White House employees conduct official business over email accounts hosted by Republican organizations.
Chairman of the House Oversight Committee Henry Waxman sent a letter Thursday to Fred Fielding, counsel to the president, requesting information regarding White House email policies, a press release from the committee stated.
The letter cites numerous examples of White House employees using email accounts through the Republican National Committee and the Bush Cheney '04 campaign for official government correspondence.
According to the letter, Waxman sent letters to both organizations on Monday requesting that they preserve the emails of White House officials.
In one example, Waxman said that "an associate of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff was advised by a White House official not to send communications through the official White House e-mail system because 'to put this stuff in writing in their email system ... might actually limit what they can do to help us.'"
In his letter to Fielding Waxman also cited a story published Wednesday by U.S. News & World Report indicating that "my letter (to the RNC and Bush Cheney campaign) ... may be driving official White House communications even further underground."
"According to this report, at least two White House aides have now 'bought their own private E-mail system through a cellular phone or Blackberry server' to avoid the possibilities of subpoenas," Waxman wrote.
The committee requested that Fielding provide an explanation of White House policies regarding the use by White House employees of nongovernmental email accounts, particularly those hosted by partisan organizations. The committee also sought information about efforts to ensure that correspondence by White House employees is secure and archived.
