DNC sues Justice Department

DNC sues Justice Department; RNC not ready to turn over e-mails to Congress

AP | April 19, 2007 04:38 PM EST

WASHINGTON — The Democratic National Committee sued the Justice Department on Thursday, demanding it turn over any e-mail traffic with the Republican Party on the U.S. attorneys controversy and criminal investigations.

Problems involving missing e-mail surfaced in recent weeks at the Republican National Committee and the White House as congressional investigators looked into the department's firing of federal prosecutors.

The Democratic Party's suit in federal court followed the RNC's refusal for now to turn over e-mails to Congress. White House lawyers first will have an opportunity to review them to determine whether some should be kept secret.

Such a review is "commonplace," said a letter dated Wednesday and released by the RNC. Attorney Robert Kelner, representing the RNC, sent the letter to the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif. Kelner gave no end date for the White House review.

The existence of RNC e-mail for White House staff became publicly known when the department supplied material to congressional investigators. Nongovernmental e-mail accounts were created for about 50 White House aides who have been involved in politics over the course of the Bush presidency.

Separately, the White House has said it should be able to recover an undetermined number of e-mails covering official business that disappeared from its servers during a program conversion.