Marilyn Tavenner, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has apparently ‘lost’ emails from witnesses to the botched federal Obamacare rollout last year.
“The Obama administration has lost or destroyed emails for more than 20 witnesses, and in each case, the loss wasn’t disclosed to the National Archives or Congress for months or years, in violation of federal law,” stated Darrell E. Issa, Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
“Yet again, we discover that this administration will not be forthright with the American people unless cornered,” Mr. Issa said.
Aaron Albright, a spokesman for Ms. Tavenner, said the “vast majority” of her emails are likely retrievable and more than 71,000 that have been identified might be responsive to the subpoena.
He said that set of emails has no “significant chronological gaps.”
But HHS didn’t inform the National Archives of the lost emails until Wednesday, a day before the department told Congress.
“Based on a recent analysis of emails (which was completed on July 31, 2014) undertaken in connection with a request from a congressional committee, it appears that most, but not all, of the Administrator’s email records were sent within HHS and therefore were likely saved within HHS records,” Kathleen Cantwell, an HHS records management official, said in an official notification to the Archives.
“While we have not identified any specific emails that we will be unable to retrieve, it is possible that some emails may not be available to HHS, and we are therefore filing this memorandum,” she wrote.
HHS said it didn’t know for sure that records were lost, but it was filing the notice “out of an abundance of caution.”
The IRS took heat this year for failing to inform the Archives that some of Ms. Lerner’s emails were destroyed in a 2011 computer hard-drive crash. Under federal rules, the Archives must be notified whenever potential official records required to be stored for posterity are lost.
In Ms. Lerner’s case, the Justice Department is looking into the loss of emails as part of a broader criminal investigation into IRS targeting of conservative groups.
Mr. Obama took office promising to make transparency a priority, but his agencies have come under fire repeatedly for delays and problems with meeting open records laws.
Source: washingtontimes.com
Photo: HHS Photo by Chris Smith
It’s SOOO convenient to LOSE emails in this administration!!! Do they know how STUPID we KNOW they ARE while they want to think we are stupid enough to believe them.
And why is she still in her seat put her in jail right along with Polisio What a dead congress America has they do nothing to help us why do we need a congress what a waste of money these $#%&!@*s make and stel unreal and all we ever do is like and share we don’t need a $#%&!@*ing internet for that its faster to write it out and you don’t get to delete it knowing there is a copy some whare
Copies are out there somewhere !!
LOCK them ALL UP.!!!!
Everyone who sent or received these “lost” emails should be able to retrieve them. I’m sure that CMS has redundant backup, either on tape or on a remote server.
How can they stand there and just LIE to the American people!!!!!
Crooked, bst’ds, put there by the BO voters. You own it!
LIE LIE LIE!!!!!!!!!!!
Destryed
If it is in violation of law then arrest the motherfkers, charge them, jail them if possible then see how many more just happen to disapper. WTF is the matter with our gov’t officals.