A federal judge agreed Monday to allow a private group to delve into the operations of an office at the White House as part of a controversy over whether large amounts of e-mail have disappeared.
Permitting any private organization to inquire into White House functions is an unusual step, a point U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly underscored in her six-page order.
The judge said she will allow Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington to gather a “very limited” amount of information from the White House Office of Administration, which is in charge of preserving e-mail.
The citizens group says more than 10 million e-mails were not properly retained.
The White House says there is no evidence that e-mail is missing and says the Office of Administration is not subject to the public-records law.
