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 For Immediate Release
Jul 12, 2000 Contact: Press Office
202-646-5172


EVIDENTIARY E-MAIL HEARING SET FOR 10 AM THURSDAY, JULY 13, 2000




(Washington, D.C.) Beginning at 10 a.m. on Thursday, July 13, 2000, the Honorable Royce C. Lamberth will conduct an evidentiary hearing concerning The White House's failure to timely formulate a plan to produce e-mail in the burgeoning e-mail matter. Both Judicial Watch, on behalf of its clients in the Filegate lawsuit, and the Clinton-Gore White House will be producing witnesses for examination and cross-examination.

In its Order of July 10, 2000, the Court ruled:
    Elementary mathematics illustrate, however, that copying two tapes each day is better than none. By analogy, if the data at issue were in hard-copy rather than computer form, the EOP's [Executive Office of the President's] position would essentially be that it need not copy or produce a single document until it could find a copier capable of reproducing large quantities of the documents together. This court cannot accept such a preposterous position.
    . . .

    Therefore, had the EOP begun copying tapes, not only would some data now be available for searching, but also the EOP could have tested its capability to complete the restoration process, modified its plan as necessary, and developed an estimate for when the entire process could be completed.

    The EOP did not do this, however, nor has it provided the court with any explanation of why it did not do so. Instead, after twenty weeks, the EOP has not made one concrete step towards producing any of the non-ARMS e-mail, and can not give the court any estimate of when it might do so. Accordingly, the court finds that an evidentiary hearing to determine the best way to restore and search non-ARMS e-mail is warranted. The evidentiary hearing shall be scheduled immediately.
All members of the public and the media are invited to attend. The hearing is expected to last all day and into Friday, July 14, 2000 (Bastille Day). A press conference will follow on the courthouse steps each day after the hearing.

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