Waxman Warns RNC, Bush-Cheney ‘04 Campaign: Don’t Delete Your Emails

[babylonsister]

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/03/26/rnc-emails-waxman/

Waxman Warns RNC, Bush-Cheney ‘04 Campaign: Don’t Delete Your Emails

Multiple congressional investigations have uncovered evidence that White House appointees regularly communicate using email accounts provided by the Republican Party. As CREW has argued, such activity violates the Presidential Records Act, which requires the White House to preserve such records.

Today, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) issued letters to the Republican National Committee and the Bush-Cheney ‘04 Campaign directing them to preserve all emails by and for White House officials, and to meet with the committee about the legal issues involved in conducting official government business using partisan email accounts. From Waxman’s letter:

The e-mails of White House officials maintained on RNC e-mail accounts may be relevant to multiple congressional investigations. For this reason, the Committee directs you to preserve all e-mails sent or received by White House officials using e-mail accounts under your control.

In addition, the Committee requests that you or your designee meet with Committee staff during the week of April 2,2007, to discuss the following five matters:

– Who has access to the e-mail accounts maintained by the RNC; <…>

– What steps have been taken to preserve the e-mail accounts maintained by the RNC that have been used by White House officials;

– What assurance can the RNC provide the Committee that no e-mails involving official White House business have been destroyed or altered.

As Waxman points out in his letter, communications between criminal lobbyist Jack Abramoff and White House officials were conducted via nongovernmental e-mail accounts. “In at least one case, the e-mails indicate that these nonofficial accounts were being used because ‘to put this stuff in writing in their e-mail system…might actually limit what they can do to help us.’”

On Friday, National Journal reported that Karl Rove does almost all of his work with an RNC-based email account:

According to one former White House official familiar with Rove’s work habits, the president’s top political adviser does ‘about 95 percent’ of his e-mailing using his RNC-based account. Many White House officials, including aides in the Political Affairs Office, use the RNC account as an alternative to their official government e-mail addresses to help keep their official and political duties separate.

[Beetwasher]

1. The Bloodhounds Are On The Trail!!

n/t

[The Count]

2. happy to give its first rec. Waxman is on the ball!

[napi21]

3. Good, albeit standard orders from a prosecutor. The problem I see is

most if not all are already GONE! When the Dems won control last Nov. my guess is the scrubbing began!

[redqueen]

4. How sweet is that?!

:rofl:

Recommended!

[soothsayer]

5. bwa ha ha ha! get 'em!

[Patsy Stone]

6. This... THIS... is so VERRRY hot!!!!

I think I'm getting a case of the vapors!

:loveya:, Henry!

Sis, if I could recommend this ten times, I would.

[blm]

7. Waxman - a true leader from the anti-corruption, open government wing of the Democratic party.

We need MORE like him and fewer Coverup Democrats elected to office.

[SharonRB]

8. Rec #4

:hi:

Talk about global warming -- it's getting vewy,vewy hot in here.

[Norquist Nemesis]

9. *gasp* Now I get it!!! THIS is why Victoria Jones asked Snowjob

if Rove has an RNC email account last week. Snowjob gave a funny look and said he didn't know.

The light bulb (finally) goes off over my head. LOL!

[babylonsister]

10. N N, did you see this?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x503954

[Norquist Nemesis]

14. Yes, but the WH pol offc using the two "to seperate their official

duties from their political duties" is telling. If Karl Rove's percentage of time on WH email servers vs the RNC is equivalent to performing his official duties as Bush's Chief Political Advisor, then he only spends 5% advising the President? Don't think so! He's spending 95% of this tax-paid time performing purely political activities.

[Perky]

11. My legal guess is that using the GWB04 is illegal but

may still be protectable by privilege. Just because they were violating the law does not give Congress the ability to review the content.

Except that which might be subpoenable under the USA inquiry or the Abrahmoff cases or Plame-gate or connections to Haliburton or.....oh well you get the point. Simply saying that the mere existencce does not give COngress the right to examine all content immediately.

[jwirr]

12. I assume they can be held in contempt of Congress if they do.

[Solo_in_MD]

25. Maybe...

If the way the server was being run was not to keep logs, then there is no contempt. You can not preserve logs that did not exist. Without logs, there is no way to trace where emails were received or sent to without a massive search, which would be neither practical nor legal. Who has accounts today is easy. Who had them previously may be harder for the same reason given above. Ditto with usage levels.

Waxman can issue anything he wants but if the records are not there to be siezed, there is nothing that can be done.

[Eurobabe]

13. I'm sure those are long deleted. n/t

[ClayZ]

15. Recovery! " Delete" does not mean gone!

Advanced Outlook Express Recovery (AOEV) is a powerful tool to recover deleted email from Outlook Express mail folders. It uses advanced technologies to scan the mail folders and retrieve deleted email in them as many as possible.

[UnyieldingHierophant]

16. If it were that easy...those databases have been wiped so many times...

nothing is left, they can afford competent IT staff.

[tridim]

19. Maybe it's just me, but I've never met a competent IT tech who is also a Republic

It stands to reason that their IT staff is made up of incompetent political cronies just like every other department. Not a chance in hell they'd hire a Dem to maintain a mail server that is in essence a mechanism to preemptively cover up future high crimes. They hired "Bush Men".

[Solo_in_MD]

23. Its just you

[Solo_in_MD]

24. Even the Repuks are not so dumb as to you Outlook Express as a mail client

and certainly no Outlook servers

[wicket]

17. K & R

:kick: :kick: :kick:

[yellowcanine]

18. Wow there are so many bleeders here it makes "crashcart" Cheney look like the paragon of

coronary health.

[annabanana]

20. Hot Damn! Go gettem, Henry!

Yum Yum eattum up!

I am very much liking this.

[emulatorloo]

21. Kick and rec n/t

[Frustratedlady]

22. "What was the name of the chief you recommended for the Medal of

Freedom?"

I wonder how much it cost the chief to get one of those babies?

This is too incredible.

Gotta buy more popcorn.

[Javaman]

26. I imagine a modern version of the nazi's burning all their files during

the final days of berlin.

"delete it, damn it!!! delete it all!!!"

[rosesaylavee]

27. Maybe many emails have already been deleted BUT

there will be those that feel they are on the 'fringe of the cabal' that will keep emails as backup to defend themselves against possible indictment. I can't believe that ALL the emails will have been deleted. Someone will have kept their emails to either use as a defense or perhaps even offense as in blackmail... cockroaches that they are.

Waxman is one smart cookie. Wouldn't want to play poker with him.

[ddeclue]

28. These people are going down faster than the Titanic...

There won't be a Republican President elected for 15 years...

Impeachment Watch 2007!

:-)

[unlawflcombatnt]

29. Thanks for posting this

:kick: