October 7, 2003: White House Counsel May Withhold Documents He Deems Not Relevant to Plame Wilson Investigation

White House officials scramble to meet the 5 p.m. deadline for submitting all documents, e-mails, and other materials that might be relevant to the FBI’s investigation of the outing of CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson (see October 3, 2003). The White House counsel’s office, headed by Alberto Gonzales, says it will review all submitted materials before turning them over to the Justice Department, and may withhold those it deems irrelevant, perhaps asserting executive privilige or national security concerns. Democrats such as Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) say this arrangement is unacceptable, and gives Gonzales undue control over potential evidence in such an important case. “I am very troubled by the fact that the White House counsel seems to be a gatekeeper, and I want to know what precautions Justice is taking to ensure that it gets all relevant information from the administration,” Schumer says. Government officials say the White House will begin turning over the most immediately relevant documents very soon, but the Justice Department will not get all the records for a week or more. The White House is operating under a schedule mutually agreed upon by both White House and Justice Department officials. [Washington Post, 10/8/2003]