The Justice Department requested that President George W. Bush and his administration preserve all documents that relate to conversations with executives from Enron Corp about its financial situation.
The request, announced by the White House, covers all letters, e-mails, notes and computer records since Jan. 1, 1999.
The White House received the request from the Justice Department Friday evening, Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said.
"The White House will comply with this request as part of a continuing commitment to fully cooperate," the White House said in a written statement.
White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales sent a notice to all White House employees Friday evening informing them of the request.
Enron filed the largest US bankruptcy on Dec. 2 after admitting that it overstated profits by US$586 million since 1997.
Ten congressional committees, the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating the role played by executives, analysts and auditor Arthur Andersen LLP in the collapse.
Kenneth Lay, Enron's former chairman, has been Bush's friend and biggest political backer over 10 years. Enron and its employees donated US$113,000 to Bush's presidential campaign in 2000 and US$312,000 to his 1994 and 1998 Texas gubernatorial races.
Republicans received about 73 percent of the US$5.8 million in election funds Enron or its employees gave over the last decade.
Bush said his administration didn't do any favors for Enron and has refused to turn over to a congressional agency information about Enron executives' meetings with Vice President Dick Cheney during the administration's deliberations on energy policy.
"It's an encroachment on the executive branch's ability to conduct business," Bush said of the General Accounting Office request for documents.
The GAO, Congress's auditing arm, plans to file a lawsuit to get the information. That would be the first legal action of its kind between the legislative and executive branches of government.
Cheney, Bush's economic adviser Larry Lindsey, and others in the administration were part of a drive to help Enron resolve a dispute with India over a troubled power plant project as late as November, according to government records.
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