What About Those Missing E-Mails, Anyway?

[Hissyspit]

http://impeachmentproject.blogspot.com/2007/09/what-about-those-missing-e-mails-anyway.html



Saturday, September 1, 2007
What About Those Missing E-mails, Anyway?

Investigations into various activities of the Bush administration have revealed that key White House staffers, including Karl Rove, illegally used non-government computers to circumvent the Presidential Records act.

This story started to come to light last year, when the House Oversight Committee was investigating bribery by the (since convicted) Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff. When the committee asked for records of communications between Abramoff and the White House, they found out that most of it happened not over White House computers, but on computers owned by the Republican National Committee. These computers were provided to white house staffers so they could use them for election-related Republican Party business. But they kept them and used them for anything that they wanted to keep secret, in this case, illegal bribery and lobbying. Karl Rove and his chief assistant, Susan Ralston, wrote most of their e-mails on these computers.

More information about this came to light when the House tried to investigate the firings of 8 U.S. attorneys by the Justice Department. The committee suspected, and it appears, that these firing were for purely political purposes, to prevent investigation of Republican voting abuses, and try to uncover Democratic ones. Again, when the committee asked for White House communications, their request was denied, because the White House had failed to keep records as required by law for this very reason.

Now the committee is stymied because the RNC asserts that these e-mails, hundreds of thousands of them over a four-year period, were deleted and cannot be found. Their story of what happened to the incriminating evidence? THEY LOST IT!

Representative Henry Waxman, chair of the House Oversight Committee, asked for all of the e-mails in March, and again last week. In March the RNC said they would look for them. Did they find them? A Congressional Committee wants to know. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, (CREW) a citizen’s watchdog group, has asked for them under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). The White House, in a precedent setting claim, declared they were not subject to FOIA. In his recent letter, Representative Waxman gave White House Counsel Fred Fielding until September 10 to turn over the e-mails. Whether he will issue subpoenas, thereby starting a chain of events that could result in Contempt of Congress charges, is not yet known.

- snip -

This story is important for three reasons:

1. It is yet another tedious example of the Bush administration flouting laws they don’t like. The Presidential Records Act was passed in 1978 in response to the Nixon Administration’s attempts to cover up their criminal actions. The law makes it clear that White House communications belong to the American people and that the President has a duty to preserve them for future (twelve years later) disclosure. White House computers automatically sent a copy of every email to a special server for this purpose, and key White House staffers, including not only Rove but Political Affairs Director Ken Mehlman and senior advisor Andrew Card, used the RNC computers specifically to circumvent these safeguards that was required by law.
   
   
2. Members of Congress and the public suspect that these e-mails include a cache of smoking guns, which is why they have not been produced. Whenever Rove or Mehlman wanted to do something illegal or secret, they used the RNC computers to do it. If these emails are ever “found,” which I doubt, I predict that they will contain evidence of criminal activity we haven’t even touched on yet.
   
   
3. They are yet another instance of the Bush White House’s penchant for secrecy, and their attitude that their actions are not subject to Congressional inquiry or oversight. If they have to break the law to prevent Congress from fulfilling their Constitutionally mandated role, so be it.

What we can do here is provide support and pressure on Representative Waxman and the Members of the Congressional Oversight Committee. Here’s the contact info:

Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
U.S. House of Representatives
2157 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
[phone]

email link.

Committee members:

Democrats:

Henry A. Waxman, California, Chairman
Rep. Tom Lantos, California
Rep. Edolphus Towns, New York
Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, Pennsylvania
Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, New York
Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Maryland
Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich, Ohio
Rep. Danny K. Davis, Illinois
Rep. John F. Tierney, Massachusetts
Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay, Missouri
Rep. Diane E. Watson, California
Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, Massachusetts
Rep. Brian Higgins, New York
Rep. John A. Yarmuth, Kentucky
Rep. Bruce L. Braley, Iowa
Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, District of Columbia
Rep. Betty McCollum, Minnesota
Rep. Jim Cooper, Tennessee
Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Maryland
Rep. Paul W. Hodes, New Hampshire
Rep. Christopher S. Murphy, Connecticut
Rep. John P. Sarbanes, Maryland
Rep. Peter Welch, Vermont

Republicans:
Rep. Tom Davis, Virginia, Ranking Minority Member
Rep. Dan Burton, Indiana
Rep. Christopher Shays, Connecticut
Rep. John M. McHugh, New York
Rep. John L. Mica, Florida
Rep. Mark E. Souder, Indiana
Rep. Todd Russell Platts, Pennsylvania
Rep. Chris Cannon, Utah
Rep. John J. Duncan, Jr., Tennessee
Rep. Michael Turner, Ohio
Rep. Darrell E. Issa, California
Rep. Kenny Marchant, Texas
Rep. Lynn A. Westmoreland, Georgia
Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, North Carolina
Rep. Virginia Foxx, North Carolina
Rep. Brian Bilbray, California
Rep. Bill Sali, Idaho
Rep. Jim Jordan, Ohio

If your Representative’s name is on this list, give them a call at 1-800-426-8073.

[L. Coyote]

1. Presumedly missing. They conveniently said 5 million e-mails were missing.

Do you trust them?

According to my inside information, this is what the network admins have recently been up to at Sidley Austin, creating emergency recovery mail stores on the MS Exchange server to recover email from an earlier time after an email policy of anything over 90 days old was to be deleted. Bradley Berenson, a Sidley Austin partner, represents Susan Ralston and was a Bush WH counsel.

==== Waxman acts to preserve evidence ====

Jennifer Farley, a deputy in the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, warned that e-mail messages by lobbyist Jack Abramoff should not be put into the White House e-mail system "because it might actually limit what they can do to help us, especially since there could be lawsuits, etc."

GOP Groups Told to Keep Bush Officials' E-Mails
Democrat Cites Investigation of Firings
By R. Jeffrey Smith - Washington Post Staff Writer - Tuesday, March 27, 2007; Page A03
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/26/AR2007032601979.html

A Democratic House committee chairman yesterday told the Republican National Committee and the Bush-Cheney '04 campaign to retain copies of all e-mails sent or received by White House officials using e-mail accounts under their control....

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.) said his broadly written request was based on evidence that White House officials -- particularly aides to top political adviser Karl Rove -- have used their politically related e-mail accounts to hide the conduct of official business regarding the prosecutor firings and other matters being investigated by Congress....

"The e-mails of White House officials maintained on RNC e-mail accounts may be relevant to multiple congressional investigations," Waxman wrote to the group's chairman, Mike Duncan .....

===========================
Abramoff's aide becames Rove executive assistant, and then writes "to help us"
From http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/news/nation/16977359.htm
and http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/03/27/crooksrus-2

Waxman noted for example that J. Scott Jennings, the White House deputy director of political affairs, used a "gwb43.com" e-mail account last August to discuss the replacement of the U.S. attorney for Arkansas, Bud Cummins, according to e-mails released to Congress by the White House.

Barry Jackson, a deputy to Rove, in 2003 used a "georgewbush.com" e-mail account to consult with Neil G. Volz, then an aide to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, about nominating one of Abramoff's Indian tribe clients for a Medal of Freedom, according to a copy of an e-mail. Abramoff is now serving a prison sentence for bank fraud, and Volz plead guilty to conspiracy charges last year.

Susan B. Ralston, while she was executive assistant to Rove, similarly used "georgewbush.com" and "rnchq.org" e-mail accounts to confer in 2001 and 2003 with Abramoff, her former boss, about matters of interest to Abramoff's clients.

==========================
Convicted felons used the e-mails
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Waxman_to_Republican_groups_Save_those_0326.html

"Another official using the unofficial e-mail system for government business was Neil Volz, the former Chief of Staff to Rep. Bob Ney.
Both Volz and Ney were convicted of crimes related to their activities with Abramoff."

== "rnchq.org" also involved ==

... Waxman also pointed to e-mails his committee received last year in connection to convicted superlobbyist Jack Abramoff, which show White House aides sending and receiving work-related e-mails from domains like "georgewbush.com" and "rnchq.org". ....

....

An RNC spokesman declined to comment, saying the organization had not yet had a chance to review the letter. The White House and former Bush-Cheney '04 campaign chairman Marc Racicot did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

============================
MORE from DU archive: Email-Gate FACTS: Felons, georgewbush.com, gwb43.com , et. al.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x523978

[L. Coyote]

2. Cryptic thank-you note may link Rove to US Attorney scandal

Cryptic thank-you note may link Rove to US Attorney scandal
RAW STORY - March 28, 2007
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Cryptic_thankyou_note_may_link_Rove_0328.html

A previously overlooked e-mail from the Department of Justice document dump may turn out to be a smoking gun, of sorts, that links White House Adviser Karl Rove to the US Attorney firing scandal, reports Newsweek.

"New Mexico Republican Sen. Pete Domenici's chief of staff sent a cryptic thank-you note to Karl Rove just as the senator was recommending replacements for David Iglesias, the fired U.S. attorney in New Mexico, according to internal White House and Justice Department documents," writes Michael Isikoff.

"Thanks for everything," read the e-mail, dated January 8th, 2007, which included the name of a replacement candidate for Iglesias' position.

The email, which was sent to Rove and two other White House officials, may have been initially overlooked because it was sent to a more obscure e-mail account of Rove's. ..........

[autorank]

3. K*R(#5, earlier;) Excellent Post and Great Issue

What? These guys get to cheat at everything all the time?

I guess so because there is no accountability.

The House of Representatives has a little jail in it from times gone by. Why not open it up and
toss a few sand baggers in there?

It would be a singular point.

[Richard Steele]

4. K&R

[bleever]

5. K&R for the mother lode of evidence.

:thumbsup:

[cutlassmama]

6. It will do no good to call our representatives. No one is going to do anything

to the king. He has overtaken the U.S. and is now the King. Basically, he's proven he can do whatever he wants and to tell with the American people or laws of the land.