Maggief,
Thanks for the answer as to how some of the emails surfaced. (FOIA request )
Its possible the grassley one was in amongst that batch.
LucyT,
Another to ping-out!
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Lerner "accidentally" receiving....and opening ....US mail addressed to Sen Grassley is a federal offense----in legal terms: tampering with US mail. Mail tampering refers to the willful theft, destruction or opening of the mail of another person without their consent.
The moral equivalent of the Watergate break-in.
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REFERENCE----mail tampering is a crime punishable by incarceration, fines, or a term of probation. Within these individual United States, tampering with the mail may be a crime under state laws; however, mail fraud is a federal crime. The exact definition will vary by jurisdiction, but "tampering" generally includes opening, destroying, damaging, or interfering with mail intended for another person.
Under most states laws within the United States, mail is considered private property. As such, an individual has an expectation of privacy attached to his or her mail. When another person breaches that expectation of privacy, he or she may be guilty of mail tampering.
State laws differ, but in most cases, no one is allowed to open mail intended for another person. In many cases, even members of the same household cannot open mail addressed to another person in the same house. State statutes do frequently make an exception for United States Postal workers or other carriers if they are acting in good faith when opening the mail as part of their job.
Destroying, damaging, or interfering with the mail are also often considered mail tampering. For instance, removing mail from someone's mailbox or throwing mail away that is intended for another person may amount to a crime. Under most state statutes, tampering with the mail is a misdemeanor and is punishable by a term of imprisonment of up to a year or two.
Mr. Grassley had to sign a waiver for the latest emails to be released. The Ways and Means Committee was able to obtain them under its special powers as the chief tax-writing panel in Congress.
The emails don’t identify the organization that issued the invitations to Mr. Grassley and Ms. Lerner, but whatever it was, it appears to have been too controversial for Ms. Lerner’s taste.
“Don’t think I want to be on stage with Grassley on this issue,” she wrote in closing out the email chain.