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 For Immediate Release
Aug 24, 2000 Contact: Press Office
202-646-5172


CLINTON-GORE OFFICIAL ADMITS WHITE HOUSE E-MAIL TESTIMONY FALSE

Assistant to the President Mark Lindsay Admits Sworn Declarations Submitted to Federal Court Not True

Also Admits Recent White House Press Statement on E-Mail A Lie

(Washington, D.C.) Mark Lindsay, Assistant to the President for Management and Administration, was forced to admit in federal court yesterday that sworn declarations submitted by The White House concerning e-mail were false. The declarations, by White House computer specialist Daniel Barry, falsely stated that Clinton-Gore White House e-mail were being records managed on a system known as ARMS -- the Automated Records Management System. In fact, as Judicial Watch uncovered through whistleblowers such as Sheryl Hall, Betty Lambuth, and Kathy Gallant, hundreds of thousands of e-mail never made it into ARMS, which meant that the e-mail were never searched in response to subpoenas and document requests for scandals such as Filegate, Chinagate, and the Monica Lewinsky. The White House declarations that Lindsay labeled false were submitted to the Court by lawyers for the Clinton-Gore White House and Department of Justice.

This e-mail scandal was uncovered in the course of the $90 million Filegate civil lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch on behalf of those Reagan and Bush staffers (and others) whose FBI files were illegally taken and misused by this White House. Hillary Clinton is a defendant in the lawsuit.

Lindsay's testimony came in a continuing court hearing on the false e-mail testimony and Clinton-Gore White House threats to contractors in order to keep the e-mail secret from the Court, Congress, and independent counsels. Sworn testimony before the Court shows that Lindsay made some of the threats. Though failing to "recollect" the threats, Lindsay was forced to admit yesterday he sought legal advice about aspects of the threats back in 1998; the time they were made.

Lindsay also was forced to admit in his testimony yesterday that a statement issued by Clinton-Gore White House spokesman Jake Siewert last week saying that the "entire (White House) e-mail system" had been searched was false. Lindsay's credibility was impeached when, after initially claiming the statement was true, the Court stepped in and forced him to admit it was false. Hundreds of thousands of e-mail, including Al Gore's, have yet to be searched.

"We now have admissions by the Clinton-Gore White House, through a high-ranking official, that it lied about the e-mail scandal. This, along with the e-mail threats, must result in people going to jail," stated Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel Larry Klayman.

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