The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services admitted in a Wednesday letter to the National Archives and Records Administration that one its senior executives, Marilyn Tavenner, likely deleted some of the emails subpoenaed by Congress ten months ago regarding the botched Healthcare.gov rollout.
The admission resulted in a scathing response from Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, who called the destroying of government emails a âviolation of federal law.â
âTodayâs news that a senior HHS executive destroyed emails relevant to a congressional investigation means that the Obama Administration has lost or destroyed emails for more than 20 witnesses, and in each case, the loss wasnât disclosed to the National Archives or Congress for months or years, in violation of federal law,â Issa said in a statement. âIt defies logic that so many senior Administration officials were found to have ignored federal record keeping requirements only after Congress asked to see their emails.â
âJust this week, my staff followed up with HHS, who has failed to comply with a subpoena from ten months ago. Even at that point, the administration did not inform us that there was a problem with Ms. Tavennerâs email history. Yet again, we discover that this Administration will not be forthright with the American people unless cornered,â he continued.
Tavenner, who is the Medicare chief, took a lot of the initial heat after Healthcare.gov got off to a horrific start in 2013.
HHS claims it will likely be able to recover âsome but not allâ of the requested emails, MSNBCâs Alex Seitz-Wald reports.
HHS argues Tavenner received an extremely high volume of emails on a daily basis and she routinely deleted emails after forwarding them to members of her staff for retention purposes. Because she didnât do this every single time, the department claims, some of the emails were deleted and lost.
In the letter to the National Archives and Records Administration, HHS Records Management Director Kathleen Cantwell says the department is taking steps to improve their records retention process.
The admission resulted in a scathing response from Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, who called the destroying of government emails a âviolation of federal law.â
âTodayâs news that a senior HHS executive destroyed emails relevant to a congressional investigation means that the Obama Administration has lost or destroyed emails for more than 20 witnesses, and in each case, the loss wasnât disclosed to the National Archives or Congress for months or years, in violation of federal law,â Issa said in a statement. âIt defies logic that so many senior Administration officials were found to have ignored federal record keeping requirements only after Congress asked to see their emails.â
âJust this week, my staff followed up with HHS, who has failed to comply with a subpoena from ten months ago. Even at that point, the administration did not inform us that there was a problem with Ms. Tavennerâs email history. Yet again, we discover that this Administration will not be forthright with the American people unless cornered,â he continued.
Tavenner, who is the Medicare chief, took a lot of the initial heat after Healthcare.gov got off to a horrific start in 2013.
HHS claims it will likely be able to recover âsome but not allâ of the requested emails, MSNBCâs Alex Seitz-Wald reports.
HHS argues Tavenner received an extremely high volume of emails on a daily basis and she routinely deleted emails after forwarding them to members of her staff for retention purposes. Because she didnât do this every single time, the department claims, some of the emails were deleted and lost.
In the letter to the National Archives and Records Administration, HHS Records Management Director Kathleen Cantwell says the department is taking steps to improve their records retention process.
