New letter asks State Department and National Archivist to investigate
A bipartisan coalition of government accountability organizations released a letter today calling for further investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails.
The letter, which is addressed to Secretary of State John Kerry and National Archivist David Ferriero, asks both men to “verify that Secretary Clinton’s emails containing federal records are transferred to the Department of State in their original electronic form, so that all such emails may be accessible pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act.”
“The task of determining which emails constitute federal records should not be left solely to Mrs. Clinton’s personal aides,” the letter states. “Rather, the Archivist and State Department should oversee the process to ensure its independence and objectivity. To the extent that it is ascertained that any record emails were deleted, they should be retrieved if technically possible.”
Cause of Action President Dan Epstein issued the following statement:
“Secretary Clinton’s exclusive use of a private email system during her tenure as the head of the State Department potentially violated the Federal Records Act, was a clear breach of the State Department’s internal rules governing electronic communication and may have been a deliberate attempt to circumvent public oversight,” said Cause of Action President Dan Epstein. “The only way to ensure a transparent and open government is for public officials to follow the letter of the law. Secretary Clinton failed to adhere to that standard, and that is why our coalition is asking the Secretary of State and the National Archivist to take action.”
CLICK HERE TO READ THE LETTER
The full list of co-signers includes: Cause of Action, Society of Professional Journalists, The Sunlight Foundation, Defending Dissent Foundation, Electronic Frontier Foundation, MuckRock, National Coalition for History, National Security Archive, National Security Counselors, OpenTheGovernment.org, Pirate Times, and Project on Government Oversight (POGO).
