January 23, 2006: Fitzgerald Tells Libby’s Lawyers that Some Classified Documents Unavailable, Not Pertinent to Case

Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald responds again to the classified document request from the Lewis Libby defense team (see December 14, 2005, January 9, 2006, and January 23, 2006). Fitzgerald reiterates that his office cannot provide some of the classified White House documents that Libby’s lawyers are requesting, and writes that many of the requested materials have no bearing on the perjury and obstruction charges Libby is facing. He also tells the lawyers that his office may not be able to provide some of the documents requested from the Office of the Vice President because that office seems not to have kept them: “We advise you that we have learned that not all e-mail of the Office of Vice President and the Executive Office of the President for certain time periods in 2003 was preserved through the normal archiving process on the White House computer system.” [Office of Special Counsel, 1/9/2006 ]