Anyone Remember Rose Mary Woods and Nixon's 18 1/2-Minute Gap?

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/1/06 at 5:27pm

"[Patrick] Fitzgerald...said...that many e-mails from Cheney's office at the time of the Plame leak in 2003 have been deleted contrary to White House policy."

---

If Fitzgerald finds out that one White House employee deleted emails ordering the outing of Valerie Plame, it's Obstruction of Justice.

If Fitzgerald finds out that two or more White House employees discussed deleting emails ordering the outing of Valerie Plame, it's Conspiracy.

Anyone think Fitzgerald knows how to search for a deleted file on a hard drive?


Leak prober got supersecret files

Updated On: 2/1/06 at 05:27 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/1/06 at 11:44pm

"In an abundance of caution," Fitzgerald writes, "we advise you that we have learned that not all email of the Office of the Vice President and the Executive Office of the President for certain time periods in 2003 was preserved through the normal achiving process on the White House computer system."

===


Fitzgerald admits White House may have destroyed some emails potentially relevant to CIA leak case

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/2/06 at 12:05am

Obstruction of justice is impeachable by itself. It is also a felony.

Indictment time for Cheney?

[brdlwyr]

Posted: 2/2/06 at 12:08am

I love PAT!!!!!!!

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 2/2/06 at 12:33am

Sounds like obstruction to me.

Especially if there is a retention order, and an intent by individuals to circumvent the existing order.

At least in civil litigation (though not in criminal I believe) the destruction of evidence contrary to a production or retention order can lead to a jury instruction that lets them interpret the evidence destroyed in the worst light possible against the party. The destruction of evidence, or the failure to product it when requested, has been one of the basis for multi-million dollar jury verdicts.

I am not sure how it would play out here. There would need to ba an actual retention order related to the investigation, and then evidence that someone intentionally deleted emails to avoid discovery.

But, with computer forenscis, that stuff can be recovered. Unless the hard drives themselves were destroyed, as well as all of the backup tapes, then they should be able to reconstruct some if not all of what was destroyed.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/2/06 at 12:38am

And, BINGO! It hits the AP wire...

===

Fitzgerald Hints White House Records Lost

By PETE YOST, Associated Press Writer Wed Feb 1, 9:28 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald is raising the possibility that records sought in the
CIA leak investigation could be missing because of an e-mail archiving problem at the White House.

The prosecutor in the criminal case against Vice President
Dick Cheney's former chief of staff said in a Jan. 23 letter that not all e-mail was archived in 2003, the year the Bush administration exposed the identity of undercover CIA officer
Valerie Plame.

Lawyers for defendant I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby this week accused prosecutors of withholding evidence the Libby camp says it needs to mount a defense.

"We are aware of no evidence pertinent to the charges against defendant Libby which has been destroyed," Fitzgerald wrote in a letter to the defense team.

But the prosecutor added: "In an abundance of caution, we advise you that we have learned that not all e-mail of the Office of Vice President and the Executive Office of the President for certain time periods in 2003 was preserved through the normal archiving process on the White House computer system." His letter was an exhibit attached to Libby's demand for more information from the prosecution.

Lea Anne McBride, a spokeswoman for Cheney, said the vice president's office is cooperating fully with the investigation, and referred questions to Fitzgerald's office.

Libby is charged with five counts of perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI regarding how he learned of Plame's identity and what he did with the information.

The Presidential Records Act, passed by Congress in 1978, made it clear that records generated in the conduct of official duties did not belong to the president or vice president, but were the property of the government.

The National Archives takes custody of the records when the president leaves office.

"Bottom line: Accidents happen and there could be a benign explanation, but this is highly irregular and invites suspicion," said Steve Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists government secrecy project.

"A particular subset of records sought in a controversial prosecution have gone missing," Aftergood said. "I think what is needed is for the national archivist to ascertain what went wrong and how to ensure it won't happen again."
Fitzgerald Hints White House Records Lost

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/2/06 at 10:21pm

And remember all the fuss the Republicans made when Hillary said some documents were missing?

[YouWantitWhen????]

Posted: 2/2/06 at 10:32pm

Yeah, but those are democratic documents, clearly they are more insidious than republican documents.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 8:35am

The procedures for preserving White House communications were detailed in an April 7, 2000, Christian Science Monitor article:

[W]henever a White House staffer clicks "send," a message reminds them that a copy of their missive is being sent to records management.

When it comes to saving e-mails, the White House is held to a higher standard than the private sector, and even Congress.

Companies that have a policy of saving e-mails usually do so only for three to six months, according to records-management consultants. Many companies consider them the same as phone calls, and don't archive them unless they are equal in weight to a written communication.

But the White House is different. It saves its records for posterity. After President Clinton vacates his office next January, at least 30 million stored e-mails will be deposited with the National Archives, an unfathomable mountain of data ranging from "how about lunch?" to speech drafts, to perhaps more juicy communications.

[pndmnd]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 10:33am

PalJoey, I just have to tell you how much I love the threads that you start!!

[PalJoey]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 10:46am

Thanks, pnd! Where do I send that $5?