FW: Lowell

From:pir@hrcoffice.com To: john.podesta@gmail.com CC: Cheryl.mills@gmail.com Date: 2015-03-05 15:16 Subject: FW: Lowell

Finishing some calls and will turn to this right after. Abbe David Lowell Chadbourne & Parke LLP 1200 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036 1301 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019 - 6022 tel 202-974-5605; 212-408-1170 | fax 202-974-6705; 646-710-1170 adlowell@chadbourne.com<mailto:adlowell@chadbourne.com> | http://www.chadbourne.com<http://www.chadbourne.com/> vCard: http://www.chadbourne.com/vcard/adlowell.vcf Mr. Lowell, it’s an honor to virtually meet you. I should preface this by saying I’m a jailhouse lawyer as a result of being around Cheryl and others for so long and so intensely. Here is what we are thinking and hoping you can help us with: this kerfuffle with the Secretary’s email is obviously one we are trying very hard to work through and to explain to people. Comes down to the right to know, transparency, etc. Which we strongly believe in, and why we turned over her email. Obviously, the committee investigating the Benghazi attacks have latched on to this, as well as others in and out of Congress who claim this subverted several processes, including FOIA. We do not agree with that, but in the course of this we’ve discussed an ironic hypocrisy that we believe the public would benefit in knowing before judging anyone’s intentions and practices: Congress is exempt from FOIA. Because Congress exempted itself from FOIA. Congressional offices do not have to even respond to FOIA requests, let alone fulfill them. I worked on Capitol Hill for seven years and always found it hypocritical (right before I filed the request in the circular cabinet as they say). So while the Republicans and conservative groups tie the Federal Government up in stitches working on FOIA requests for my communications with reporters or Cheryl’s with HRC, their own communications with entities such as the RNC or FOX where they are likely coordinating — or at the very least discussing — is blinded from the public eye. So we thought one way to demonstrate this would be for someone to submit a series of FOIA requests to a number of Hill offices, specifically, the Chairman of the Select Committee, Rep. Trey Gowdy, along with his fellow Republicans on the Committee, as well as others such as Darrell Issa, Jason Chaffetz, Lyndsey Graham — all those who pound their chests about the public’s right to know how their government functions. Just not their 1/3 of it! And let them respond or not. My guess is that most requests would come back on letterhead with a standard answer. And btw, there is nothing preventing someone from voluntarily complying with such a request. Obviously, those responses would be very compelling to the news media. You can probably guess who we thought that someone could be. Given your stature and career, we can’t think of anyone better to make the point that the representatives of the people, including the People’s House, does not want the people to see what they are doing. Happy to discuss by phone, and thank you for entertaining what you may consider a harebrained idea. Best, Philippe I will call from train tonight. In interim, adding Phillppe who has an ask for you from John Podesta. cdm ________________________________ This e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is intended only for use by the addressee(s) named herein and may contain legally privileged and/or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail, and any attachments thereto, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify me by replying to this message and permanently delete the original and any copy of this e-mail and any printout thereof. For additional information about Chadbourne & Parke LLP and Chadbourne & Parke, a multinational partnership, including a list of attorneys, please see our website at http://www.chadbourne.com