Attorney General Eric Holder used secretive email accounts under aliases during his tenure at the Justice Department, raising fresh questions about the Obama administration’s compliance with federal records laws as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reels from her own email scandal.
Holder has emailed under the nom de plume “Henry Yearwood” in the past, former Justice Department officials say. The Huffington Post reported Tuesday that Holder had used three aliases. The current is unknown.
Republicans familiar with the issue said that even when congressional officials traveled to the Justice Department for so-called “in camera” review of documents, Holder’s email address had been redacted, despite the fact that the documents were not being released.
Unlike Clinton, who used a personal email account and her own private email server, preventing government officials from possessing the emails for record-keeping purposes while she was in office, Holder’s email address is a government, usdoj.gov email address.
A spokesman for Holder claimed to the Huffington Post that the secretive email accounts did not interfere with the production of Holder emails to congressional oversight officials or FOIA requests.
Former Environmental Protection Agency head Lisa Jackson came under fire previously for emailing under an alias, Richard Windsor, that critics alleged had protected her correspondence from some FOIA requests.