Judicial Watch Files Lawsuit to Obtain Hillary Health Care Records From Clinton Presidential Library

WASHINGTON, DC--(Marketwire - November 5, 2007) - Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration to obtain records related to the National Taskforce on Health Care Reform, a "cabinet-level" taskforce chaired by former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. The records at issue are archived at the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock, Arkansas. The lawsuit was filed on Friday, November 2, 2007, with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

The National Archives admitted in correspondence to Judicial Watch that there are approximately 3,022,030 textual records, 2,884 pages of electronic records, 1,021 photographs, three videotapes and three audiotapes that must be reviewed in order to respond to Judicial Watch's April 4, 2006, FOIA request. However, according to Judicial Watch's complaint, the Archives, "...has failed to allow [Judicial Watch] access to any records responsive to [its] request, or indicate when access would be allowed. Nor has the Library demonstrated that responsive records are exempt from disclosure" as required by law.

According to Clinton Presidential Library records, "The cabinet-level Task Force, chaired by First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, was given primary responsibility for providing advice and making recommendations to the President regarding the national health care reform package." A small category of Health Care Task Force-related documents have been released at the Clinton Presidential library, but the overwhelming majority of the Health Care Task Force records have not been disclosed.

On January 20, 2006, more than 80 million pages of documents and 20 million e-mails from the Clinton administration were supposed to be made available to the public, yet only a portion have been released. Judicial Watch has a number of requests concerning various Clinton administration scandals pending with the Clinton Presidential Library: In July, Judicial Watch filed a separate lawsuit to obtain Hillary Clinton's "daily office diary, schedule, day planner, telephone log book, and chronological file." According to a sworn declaration recently filed by the government, some of these Hillary office records could be available as soon as January 2008.

"Hillary Clinton claimed in the presidential debate last week that 'all of the records' related to her work on health care reform 'are already available.' This is untrue. The Health Care Task Force and most other Clinton White House documents remain largely unavailable to the American people. We hope our lawsuits change that," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

Court filings and documents related to Judicial Watch's pursuit of Hillary's White House records are available on Judicial Watch's Internet site, www.judicialwatch.org.

Contact Information: Contact: Jill Farrell 202-646-5188