-Caveat Lector-
Judge: Let the Facts Out on E-Mail
By Pete Yost
Associated Press Writer
Friday, Oct. 13, 2000; 4:01 p.m. EDT
WASHINGTON �� A federal judge challenged the White House and its
computer contractor on Friday to let "the facts ... come out"
about what the Clinton administration knew in 1998 regarding
hundreds of thousands of lost e-mails.
Northrop Grumman Corp. is claiming attorney-client privilege in
refusing to disclose information that might shed light on whether
White House lawyers and top presidential aides learned 21�2 years
ago about an e-mail problem and alleged threats against employees
who knew about it. The problem didn't become public until this
year.
The e-mail archiving problem resulted in the White House's
failure to review a huge amount of White House message traffic
for investigators in the Lewinsky scandal, the Whitewater
investigation and the campaign fund-raising controversy.
At a hearing, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth, a Reagan
appointee, said the White House should not "sit back" and let
Northrop Grumman order its lawyer, prominent Washington attorney
Earl Silbert, to refuse to disclose a range of information on the
e-mail problem.
"It would be in everybody's interest for the facts to come out,"
Lamberth told Justice Department lawyer Thomas Millet, who is
representing the White House in a civil case that brought the
problem to light.
"I don't know why your client" � the White House � "is not saying
'wait a minute'" and objecting to Northrop Grumman invoking
attorney-client privilege, Lamberth said.
"That is Northrop Grumman's call" to make, Millet replied.
"I find it very odd that Northrop Grumman is trying to keep
important facts from coming out," Lamberth replied.
Northrop Grumman is trying to keep portions of 17 documents
secret, including Silbert's notes of an interview in 1998 with a
Northrop Grumman employee at the White House who detailed the
e-mail problem and alleged threats to keep quiet about it.
Millet said the possibility that Silbert told the White House
about the threats in 1998 is being "blown out of proportion."
Lamberth cautioned Millet not to make such a characterization.
"I have some documents," and "you had better not get too far out
on a limb," the judge said. The judge noted that he has been
briefed periodically in the ongoing criminal investigation of
whether the alleged threats constitute obstruction of justice.
Silbert's law firm billing records show two brief phone calls
with the White House counsel's office on behalf of Northrop
Grumman, but Silbert says he doesn't recall who he talked to or
what was discussed. One of Silbert's phone conversations
apparently was with Lanny Breuer, according to a telephone
message slip released by Lamberth at Friday's hearing. Now an
attorney in private practice, Breuer declined to comment last
week when The Associated Press asked him if he was the one
Silbert had spoken to.
Richard Oparil, an attorney at Silbert's firm who is representing
Northrop Grumman, said he will file court papers Monday
addressing Lamberth's call for disclosure.
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FROM THE DESK OF: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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~~~~~~~~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
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