National Archives Submits 'Processing Schedule' to Court for Hillary Clinton's White House Records in Judicial Watch Lawsuit

Despite Court Ruling to the Contrary, Archives Claims Bill Clinton has Final Say over Records Release

Contact: Jill Farrell, Judicial Watch, 202-646-5188

WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 /Standard Newswire/ -- Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that on October 2, 2007, the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) submitted a "Status Report and Processing Schedule" for Hillary Clinton's White House Records in response to an August 30, 2007, court order in Judicial Watch's open records lawsuit (Judicial Watch, Inc. v U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Civil Action No: 1:07-cv-01267 (JR)). The proposed schedule ignores a separate federal court ruling that would seem to force a more timely release of the records.

In its court filing the government admits that 10,000 pages of Hillary Clinton's daily schedule records will be processed completely "by the end of January 2008 to provide to Presidential representatives for review." However, the Archives "cannot provide a date certain" by which it will complete the processing of 20,000 pages of telephone log books, citing a significant volume of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and uncertainty over funding for additional requested resources.

Moreover, according to the status report, and consistent with an executive order instituted by President Bush in 2001, "NARA cannot provide a production schedule [for any of the documents] because of the right afforded to representatives of the incumbent and former Presidents to review the Presidential records prior to public disclosure." On October 1, 2007, however, U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, in a separate lawsuit recently invalidated the part of President Bush's executive order that removes the discretion of the Archivist to release certain records, and instead allows former presidents and vice presidents to stop the release of Archives records for an indefinite period of time. This latest court filing states that "on average, Presidential representatives have required 237 days to complete their review of Clinton Presidential records."

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton offered the following statement in response to the Archives court filing: "The production schedule submitted by the National Archives ignores a separate federal court order that would prevent Bill Clinton from delaying the release of these records. The Bush administration seems to be on a collision course with the court as it gives the Clintons a free hand to withhold all of these records until after the presidential election. For former President Clinton to have the final say over which documents are released is not only an affront to the open records process, but apparently in conflict with the law. The public deserves to know the full truth about Hillary's White House record. All of these documents should be released to the public as soon as possible, as the law requires."

To read all court filings related to Judicial Watch's lawsuit against the National Archives, please visit www.judicialwatch.org.