I've Got A Secret.-Bush and Jack Abramoff, Sitting In A Tree...

Published on Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (http://www.citizensforethics.org)

Bush admin. invokes "Cold-War era court ruling" in effort to prevent access to Abramoff visitor records

By crew

Created 3 Dec 2007 - 9:00am

The Bush administration, in papers filed with a federal district court, made the claim that secrecy precludes release of the White House visitor records relating to Jack Abramoff. Somehow, apparently, Abramoff's visits (of which there are obviously more than previously disclosed) equate to some kind of state security secrets [1]:

The Bush administration is laying out a new secrecy defense in an effort to end a court battle about the White House visits of now-imprisoned lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

The administration agreed last year to produce all responsive records about the visits "without redactions or claims of exemption," according to a court order.

But in a court filing Friday night, administration lawyers said that the Secret Service has identified a category of highly sensitive documents that might contain information sought in a lawsuit about Abramoff's trips to the White House.

The Justice Department, citing a Cold War-era court ruling, declared that the contents of the "Sensitive Security Records" cannot be publicly revealed even though they could show whether Abramoff made more visits to the White House than those already acknowledged.