Rove, others were warned to save e-mails

The instructions dwell on the importance of separating political from official acts. But they also explain that all e-mail sent "to your official account is automatically archived as if it were a presidential record." The manual adds: "If you happen to receive an e-mail on a personal account which otherwise qualifies as a presidential record, it is your duty to insure that it is saved as such by printing it out and saving it or by forwarding it to your White House e-mail account," the manual said.

The manual was updated and expanded through the years, and the most recent iteration dwells on preserving official records. Despite the instructions, many employees did not save their e-mails, creating the latest controversy to dog the Bush White House.

Democrats have suggested Rove and others may have deliberately deleted e-mails from his RNC account, which he used heavily.

Rove's lawyer, Robert D. Luskin, denied any attempt to evade record-keeping rules, telling the Associated Press on Friday that Rove's "understanding starting very, very early in the administration was that those e-mails were being archived."

But Robert K. Kelner, a lawyer for the RNC, said in an interview with The Times that the RNC had a policy of automatically deleting e-mails through middle or late 2004 and that there was not an understanding that White House-generated documents would be preserved.

"The RNC is not directed by law to administer the Presidential Records Act," Kelner said. "That's an authority given to the president. The treatment of these e-mail accounts by the RNC has been based on the RNC's own internal document preservation policies."

tom.hamburger@latimes.com