Assume the RNC Servers are now clean as a whistle....

[Junkdrawer]

Assume that loyal RNC technical experts have been working overtime scrubbing the servers, installing new hard drives, etc. etc....

Is there any way of proving that emails came into the servers by subpoenaing the Internet routers?

:shrug:

[Uben]

1. Methinks

...that would surely be obstruction.

[Junkdrawer]

2. Catch 22....

It's illegal to use RNC servers for White House business. It's perfectly legal to use them for RNC business. To PROVE that a crime occurred, you need to read the emails. But, before a subpoena arrives, it's legal to wipe the servers. So, no emails, no proof of crime.

Am I wrong here? :shrug:

[Blue Meany]

4. It appears that the RNC has been trying to operate

(as narrowly as possible) within the letter of the law. The legal liability for destroying records is minimized when the records are destroyed as part of an ongoing records retention and disposition program. Thus RNC had a policy of purging emails after 30 days. That is legally defensible, but as a records professional, I can say that that is an extremely short retention period and we can be pretty sure that it isn't because the RNC lacks server sapce. The only reason to do this is to avoid legal accountability. Some businesses have such policies in place and the transparent reason for this is to avoid keeping materials that might provide damaging evidence in the event of litigation.

[Hamlette]

8. is that within the letter of the law?

in my state, I have to keep records 3 years in most cases, longer in some cases, because I work for the gov't. I would think the federal government would have similar rules. So, if Rove did 95% of his business on a computer he knew wouldn't keep the stuff for the legal length of time, it looks bad for him. Like the 18 minutes.

Question is, do we have enough of the emails from the DOJ end to make the case?

[Junkdrawer]

10. From what I read, they only gave gwb43.com accounts to WH staffers...

who spoke to outside groups for RNC business. That tells me that lawyers set this thing up with technical evasion of the document laws from Day One.

[Hamlette]

11. I can't believe they didn't know document retention laws

so if I prepare a decision from my home computer, I know I have to have it scanned at work so it will be kept. And while I'm a lawyer, everyone who works in my department (only 4 of 1800 of us are lawyers) know they have to keep records for a certain period of time. I know they know because they call me to ask "is this one of the ones we keep for 3 years or 10 years"?

So Rove knew he was doing something off record and against the law even if the RNC was within the law.

[Blue Meany]

12. The point is that if you have a "records retention

policy" in place, and emails are destroyed in accordance with this policy, you are on much safer legal ground because you can make the argument that they were destroyed as part of routine records disposal procedures. If individual emails relevant to an investigation disappear or if they are all suddenly destroyed just before the investigators arrive, this might imply an intent to obstruct justice. My view, though, is that having such a short (30-day retention) policy suggests an intent to avoid disclosure; there would seem to be no business justification for this. This is not unheard of in business, but the intent to avoid the release of information that might be damaging to the enterprise is clear.

[GregD]

3. Conyers told all govt agencies

to hold all e-mails that were received or sent to non-govt addresses. This was yesterday. That should pick up a bunch of then at the other end of the line.

[Junkdrawer]

6. Well, it MAY be harder to get WH employees to commit obstruction....

Maybe.

[thecrow]

5. They have taken too long on this

and have possibly lost all the evidence.
They should have subpoenaed immediately and stopped the RNC server from being erased.
They should stop assuming that the other guys play fair.

[Bitwit1234]

7. First...didn't Fitzgerald tell rove NOT to delete emails

And if it was proven that he deleted any emails after that date isn't he guilty of obstruction of justice, or maybe something worst..

[Junkdrawer]

9. Fitzgerald may not have know about the RNC email accounts...

And the deletion of RNC emails is now being explained as the RNC's internal policy...