Remember all the handwringing from the Secret Service and the National Security Agency over President Obama’s decision to keep using a Blackberry while serving as commander-in-chief?
Turns out, it may have been warranted for reasons entirely unrelated to personal or national security. In every Washington scandal or headline grabbing lawsuit, it’s the emails that getcha, and for the first time a sitting President is known to have plenty of the chatty Internet missives piling up.
So far, Republicans have restrained themselves and have left Obama and his Blackberry alone. But as CNBC’s Eamon Javers writes, on Wednesday the House Energy and Commerce Committee broadened its investigation into the failed solar company Solyndra, demanding all of the West Wing communications regarding the taxpayer loan guarantee that was aimed at boosting the clean technology firm’s global competitiveness.
Republicans on the Energy and Commerce Panel told CNBC that the request pertains to emails the President wrote himself, what the White House believes is the first request from any type of investigative body for presidential emails.
No one knows for sure just how much Obama is using his Blackberry. When the issue first arose during the presidential transition period, the Secret Service was retooling Obama’s Blackberry to make every communication super-encrypted and it was assumed that only his closest advisers, family and friend would have the ability to shoot him an email at whim.
Republicans in Congress now are zeroing in on just how much some of these same top advisers knew about Solyndra’s instability and when they knew it, and are no doubt salivating over the chance to scour Obama’s personal emails for any mention of the failed green technology firm.
“Nearly eight months into our investigation, documents provided to the Committee last Friday confirm those closest to the President—top advisors like Valerie Jarrett, Larry Summers, and Ron Klain—had direct involvement in the Solyndra mess,” said Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Cliff Stearns (R-FL) about the latest document request. “In addition to the cast of West Wing characters with access to the Oval Office, documents reveal a startlingly cozy relationship between wealthy donors and the President’s confidantes, especially in matters related to Solyndra.”
The Bush administration provided plenty of cover for exerting executive privilege from Congressional oversight committees over West Wing documents and emails during the U.S. attorneys scandal, as the two branches of government clashed repeatedly over the issue and Congress tried to hold them in contempt of court for failing to comply with subpoenas. No doubt this White House will be just as vigilant in defending Obama’s right to keep his Oval Office emails out of the hands of Congressional investigators.
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