-Caveat Lector- <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/"> </A> -Cui Bono?- E-Mail Storm Brews Judge Says He�ll �Hang� Staffers if Files Are Erased By Josh Gerstein W A S H I N G T O N, March 10 � A simmering controversy over allegedly missing White House e-mails moved closer to a boil today, as a new witness emerged charging that she was threatened with firing or jail if she discussed the matter with anyone. In an affidavit unsealed today in federal court, Betty Lambuth, who was assigned to work at the White House by contractor Northrop Grumman, said she brought the e-mail problem to the attention of Clinton aides in mid-1998. Lambuth alleges that a technical problem caused 100,000 incoming e-mails at the White House to escape being recorded on a server searched in response to subpoenas and document requests from Independent Counsel Ken Starr, congressional committees and others. Lambuth claims that after she disclosed the problem to her supervisors, including White House Office of Administration Director Mark Lindsay, they threatened her. �Lindsay said that if I or any of my team who knew about the e-mail problem told anyone else about it we would loose (sic) our jobs, be arrested and put in jail,� Lambuth�s affidavit states. She says the effort to rectify the problem was slow moving and was dubbed �Project X� to preserve its secrecy. Lindsay declined to respond to Lambuth�s allegations, as did a White House spokesman. In a pair of hearings today, U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth heard arguments from lawyers involved in the dispute. Attorneys representing Republican appointees whose FBI files were improperly requested by the White House several years ago have asked the judge to allow them to investigate the e-mail problem and the possibility that other White House computer records were lost. A lawyer representing the government asked that the White House have more time respond to the allegations. White House Acknowledges �Glitch� Lamberth did not rule today on whether the White House had engaged in any wrongdoing, but he did seek firm assurances that all computer records that still exist will be preserved. At a hearing this morning, the judge, who has clashed repeatedly with the Clinton Administration, said he wanted the names of White House officials who could be held responsible if data tapes or servers were erased. Justice Department lawyer James Gilligan returned to court this afternoon with the names of two White House officials who had agreed to safeguard the records. Lamberth made clear that he would take harsh action if any records were destroyed. �The White House has had enough experience with me to know what the consequences of that would be,� Lamberth said. The judge said he has the �names of the people that will be hung and they know I will hang them.� For nearly a month, White House officials have rebuffed requests to discuss the e-mail problem and how it was handled. In response to a reporter�s question last month, President Clinton declared, �I believe that we have complied with every request.� In this morning�s hearing, Gilligan acknowledged that there had been some kind of problem with e-mail storage. �From 1996 to 1998, due to a programming error, an e-mail server was not forwarding certain e-mail,� he said. Gilligan did not say how, or if, the error was fixed. Gilligan suggested that the email involved was not germane to the so-called Filegate dispute. �The problem did not effect any internal e-mail,� he said. Gilligan maintained that the White House had made no effort to keep the problem quiet and noted that a White House spokesman acknowledged the glitch in a news story in 1998. However, the lawyer also said that the administration has had little time to figure out what happened. �The White House�s investigation into the entire matter is very preliminary,� he said. Judicial Watch�s Larry Klayman, who is representing many of those whose FBI files were sought by the White House, said that the judge should be wary about relying on any of the government�s representations. �This court has been repeatedly lied to,� he told Lamberth. Klayman also rejected Gilligan�s assertion that the allegedly missing e-mails were not relevant to the Filegate case. �They had an obligation to search,� Klayman said. New Subpoenas At every opportunity during the two hearings, Klayman sought to broaden the discussion to include the fact that the e-mails may have contained information sought by Independent Counsel Ken Starr or congressional committees. After the morning hearing, Klayman suggested that Clinton would have been successfully removed from office if the allegedly missing computer records were turned over at the appropriate time. For his part, Gilligan argued that the court should simply consider the e-mail problem in the narrow context of the Filegate dispute. He did his best to ignore the near certainty that a substantial number of e-mails arriving at the White House in 1998 would have had references to Monica Lewinsky and other matters that were under investigation by a federal grand jury. In court today, Gilligan said �other bodies� were seeking information about the email snafu. A spokesman for Independent Counsel Robert Ray, who took over from Ken Starr, did not return phone calls seeking comment on whether his office is looking into the problem. Clinton spokesman Jim Kennedy said White House lawyers are discussing the e-mail issue with �other interested parties,� but he declined to identify them.. Rep. Dan Burton, who chairs the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee has sent new subpoenas to the White House. The White House counsel sent Burton a letter yesterday promising a written statement on the e-mail problem by next week. On the surface, Lambuth�s story appears to corroborate former White House computer specialist Sheryl Hall�s account of the e-mail problem and the ensuing internal discussions about how to deal with it. However, much of Hall�s version of events is second-hand and may be based on Lambuth�s allegations. In court filings, lawyers from Judicial Watch have said they have other witnesses who can support their case, but the attorneys said they wouldn�t identify those witnesses for fear of retaliation. In a new declaration, Hall said that the White House also failed to search back-up tapes made from the hard drives of desktop computers of departing staffers. She said she�d been told by a current staffer that the White House is planning to �degauss� or erase the information on those back up tapes. During today�s proceedings, Gilligan asked the judge to force Judicial Watch to name those providing that information, but the judge declined to do so. ================================================================= Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT FROM THE DESK OF: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> *Mike Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> ~~~~~~~~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day. ================================================================= <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soap-boxing! 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