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Title: 5:03 pm: Congressional investigators probe why White House aides used GOP-sponsored e-mail accounts (WHITE HOUSE "LOST" SUBPOENAED E-MAILS)
Source:
Free New Mexican (AP)
URL Source: http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/60052.html
Published: Apr 11, 2007
Author: JENNIFER LOVEN
Post Date: 2007-04-11 19:33:03 by aristeides
Keywords: None
Views: 223
Comments: 24
5:03 pm: Congressional investigators probe why White House aides used GOP-sponsored e-mail accounts By JENNIFER LOVEN | Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House said Wednesday it had mishandled Republican Party-sponsored e-mail accounts used by nearly two dozen presidential aides, resulting in the loss of an undetermined number of e-mails concerning official White House business. Congressional investigators looking into the administration's firing of eight federal prosecutors already had the nongovernmental e-mail accounts in their sights because some White House aides used them to help plan the U.S. attorneys' ouster. Democrats were questioning whether the use of the GOP-provided e-mail accounts was proof that the firings were political. Democrats also have been asking if White House officials are purposely conducting sensitive official presidential business via nongovernmental accounts to get around a law requiring preservation _ and eventual disclosure _ of presidential records. The announcement of the lost e-mails _ a rare admission of error from the Bush White House at a delicate time for the administration's relations with Democratically controlled Capitol Hill _ gave new fodder for inquiry on this front. "This sounds like the administration's version of the dog ate my homework," said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. "I am deeply disturbed that just when this administration is finally subjected to meaningful oversight, it cannot produce the necessary information." The Republican National Committee set up the accounts for about 20 Bush aides, such as Karl Rove and his deputies, who get involved in politics, spokesman Scott Stanzel said. Having the GOP create non-White House addresses and provide separate BlackBerries, laptops and other communications gear was designed to avoid running afoul of Hatch Act rules barring federal employees from engaging in political activities with government resources or on government time, he said. Under President Clinton, White House aides used separate equipment for political spadework but did not have separate accounts. "This is entirely appropriate," Stanzel said of the Bush White House practice. He said staffers used their RNC accounts instead of White House accounts to discuss the prosecutor issue or conduct other official business for several reasons, including extra caution about complying with the Hatch Act as well as the convenience of using one account instead of several. Stanzel said he could not speak to whether anyone was intentionally trying to avoid White House archiving because he had not spoken to all those involved. Stanzel said some e-mails have been lost because the White House lacked clear policies on complying with Presidential Records Act requirements. Before 2004, for instance, e-mails to and from the accounts were typically automatically deleted every 30 days along with all other RNC e-mails. Even though that was changed in 2004, so that the White House staffers with those accounts were excluded from the RNC's automatic deletion policy, some of their e-mails were lost anyway when individual aides deleted their own files, Stanzel said. He could not say what had been lost, and said the White House is working to recover as many as they can. The White House has now shut off employees' ability to delete e-mails on the separate accounts, and is briefing staffers on how to better make determinations about when _ and when not _ to use them, Stanzel said. The disclosure could complicate a standoff between the White House and congressional Democrats over the fired prosecutors. The White House had promised to look through its staffers' e-mails for anything relevant to the prosecutors' dismissal. No matter the domain name, it said it would provide documents to the Senate and House Judiciary committees as long as they are not internal communications, but exchanges with people outside the White House. But the White House also had insisted that this offer of documents be accepted, all-or-nothing, along with its insistence that aides would talk to Congress about the firings, but not under oath. So far, Democrats have refused. Democrats have begun highlighting the separate accounts because they say their use appears to go beyond the strictly political. "We have become increasingly sensitized over the last several days to the White House staff wearing several 'hats' and using Republican National Committee and campaign e-mail addresses," said a letter from the Senate and House Judiciary chairmen to White House counsel Fred Fielding on March 28. "We hope you agree that such sleight of hand should not be used to circumvent and compromise the comprehensiveness of our investigation." The nongovernmental accounts were accidentally discovered by Democrats when the Justice Department released hundreds of documents related to the prosecutor firings. One exchange showed deputy White House political director J. Scott Jennings sending an e-mail titled "USATTY" to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' then-chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, from an address with a http://gwb43.com domain name. "Does a list of all vacant, or about to be vacant, US Attorney slots exist anywhere?" Jennings wrote on Dec. 3 from his political account. Replied Sampson, a few minutes later: "My office. Want me to send to you tomorrow?" Jennings had also communicated with Sampson and other Justice Department officials in August from his RNC-supplied address about how to install the administration's preferred replacement, onetime Rove aide Tim Griffin, for Arkansas U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins. In one, Jennings passed on a strategy he said was suggested by Cummins, to have Griffin come on as an attorney in the Little Rock office until Cummins finalized his post-government plans. Jennings said the plan would "alleviate pressure/implication that Tim forced Bud out." Sampson's e-mails all appeared to be from his official usdoj.gov account. The separate e-mail accounts also have become an issue in the case of disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who was convicted on bribery charges and is in prison for fraud. Abramoff had several exchanges with Susan Ralston, then a Rove assistant, via nongovernment e-mail addresses with domain names like http://rnchq.org and http://georgewbush.com, to discuss issues in the Interior Department affecting the lobbyist's Indian clients. ___ Associated Press writers Lara Jakes Jordan and Laurie Kellman contributed to this story.
April 11, 2007
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#1. To: aristeides (#0)
I've been watching this boiling up. On aspect of it is that classified material could have been mishandled in an attempt to avoid a paper trail on the attorney firings. Here is a good take from Mother Jones: http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2007/04/4124_the_white_house.html
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I was just reading the Huffington Post stuff on this. It's over on Kos too. I am wondering how far this type of thing has to go before Congress can just throw up its hands and start making RICO charges.
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Maybe they can blame it on the ghost of Rosemary Woods. I do not think their worry is classified material but politically damaging material. There would likely be much material revealing the truth about how they operate and there is little chance of any successful claim of executive privilege as this is an unofficial channel run by a non-government entity, the RNC. Like the famous 18-minute gap, what is there must be considered even more devastating than having the whole world know that they had to destroy the evidence to keep from revealing it. It may get interesting following this to see just how many "gaps" they manufacture and how much material gets "disappeared."
There is no such thing as lost e-mails. Get the NSA on it.
Maybe it was Rose Mary Woods who did the deleting. No wait, she's dead, never mind.
Every keystroke we type is archived. I don't buy this lost e-mails crap, Ferret Mike, do you?
Nope. I believe they would chose the flack from erasing these mailings over the flack from the damning and criminal things to be found in them. I am actually not the least bit surprised they did this.
You are right. A couple of years ago I had some experience with cleaning classified material from disks. Basically you use mil spec programs to rewrite the disk 20 to 50 times. This eventually covers any residual data that might get lifted. If the RNC just deleted the emails, they will still be readable and the RNC should be able to hand over the hard drive. If they ran one of the special disk scrubbing programs, then the emails were not accidentally delted and someone needs to go up on a racketeering charge.
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In my view, there are two key legal issues involved here: 1. Did the president's staff conspire to avoid the Presidential Records Act? and 2. Did the president's staff allow classified information to be kept in a nonsecure, off site, non governmental server, and therefore violate security laws and regulations? It appears they did both, and there should be a special prosecutor appointed to investigate and pursue this outrageous breach of presidential duties.
I suspect the appointment of a special prosecutor is one of the things they'll grill Gonzales about when -- and if -- he appears for the hearing.
To reason, indeed, he was not in the habit of attending. His mode of arguing, if it is to be so called, was one not uncommon among dull and stubborn persons, who are accustomed to be surrounded by their inferiors. He asserted a proposition; and, as often as wiser people ventured respectfully to show that it was erroneous, he asserted it again, in exactly the same words, and conceived that, by doing so, he at once disposed of all objections. - Macaulay, "History of England," Vol. 1, Chapter 6, on James II.
All e-mail is captured by the gummint, it doesn't have anything to do with the hard drives. Though, they would be quick and easy. I can't believe BushCo put a target on their chest with this one.
I guess we're going to see whether the NSA obeys Congress or the President.
To reason, indeed, he was not in the habit of attending. His mode of arguing, if it is to be so called, was one not uncommon among dull and stubborn persons, who are accustomed to be surrounded by their inferiors. He asserted a proposition; and, as often as wiser people ventured respectfully to show that it was erroneous, he asserted it again, in exactly the same words, and conceived that, by doing so, he at once disposed of all objections. - Macaulay, "History of England," Vol. 1, Chapter 6, on James II.
Again, true, but there is even another aspect at play here. These guys would never completely delete the emails. They have no way of knowing what they might need to save themselves as the matter progresses. You will probably see convenient emails being rediscovered as the noose tightens. The emails arn't really gone, they are just on a CD in one of the defense attorney's safe. The question is how to get at them.
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A defense attorney who knowingly conceals evidence that has been subpoenaed by Congress is taking a very big risk, as far as his license to practice law is concerned.
To reason, indeed, he was not in the habit of attending. His mode of arguing, if it is to be so called, was one not uncommon among dull and stubborn persons, who are accustomed to be surrounded by their inferiors. He asserted a proposition; and, as often as wiser people ventured respectfully to show that it was erroneous, he asserted it again, in exactly the same words, and conceived that, by doing so, he at once disposed of all objections. - Macaulay, "History of England," Vol. 1, Chapter 6, on James II.
Either way, lost e-mail is a non-starter. It might open some eyes, and that is a good thing.
Almost anything sent out on the net over the past couple of years is still there, but a lot of it is on NSA storage. The question is whether Bush can expunge this. My guess is that a lot of the stuff is also probably in caches on various severs, but it could take a long time to find. I would just subpoena the drive. If that didn't work, I'd prosecute for destruction or witholding of evidence and then look for the emails elsewhere.
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I am sure that whoever has it isn't really sure what it there - at least on an official level. It's in a big box of uncataloged stuff that the client dropped off and the attorney hasn't got around to sorting through yet. But yes, I agree, it's a high risk, high gain position to be in.
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Go look at Kos, they are hooting at this and telling everyone to educate their friends and relatives on what bullshit this really is.
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The e-mails are easy to find. Please don't complicate what is a simple issue. The WH is lying and they need to be held to account for another lie, another scandal.
I know, but people need to be made aware of this. That is the point they are trying to make over at Kos. Seems Bush is dead with the facts of the matter so they are taking the political route. Seems the first step is to claim that the emails were "accidentally" lost.
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WASHINGTON, April 11 — Political advisers to President Bush may have improperly used their Republican National Committee e-mail accounts to conduct official government business, and some communications that are required to be preserved under federal law may be lost as a result, White House officials said Wednesday. Of the 1,000 White House officials with political duties, 22 — including Karl Rove, the chief political strategist — have Republican National Committee accounts that are supposed to be used only for campaign-related work. But recent revelations that some officials have used those accounts for Bush administration business, including discussions of a plan to dismiss United States attorneys, has prompted a Congressional investigation. On Wednesday, Scott Stanzel, deputy White House press secretary, said the administration had recently begun its own inquiry, and had concluded that its policy governing political e-mail accounts was unclear, that the White House was not aggressive enough in monitoring political e-mail and that some people who had the accounts did not follow the policy closely enough. As a result, Mr. Stanzel said, “some official e-mails have potentially been lost.” He said Mr. Bush had told the White House counsel’s office “to do everything practical to retrieve potentially lost messages.” Mr. Stanzel and a second administration official, who is involved in the review and was authorized by the White House to speak on condition of anonymity, said the White House was working with the national committee to discover what was missing and whether it could be retrieved. If e-mail messages have been lost, Mr. Stanzel said, they are most likely those sent before 2004. That year, the national committee adopted a policy of preserving e-mail sent by White House officials using its accounts. Democrats want to know whether White House officials intentionally used political e-mail accounts to escape scrutiny or circumvent the law requiring preservation of records. They reacted with suspicion on Wednesday. “This sounds like the administration’s version of the dog ate my homework,” said Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is investigating the dismissal of the prosecutors. “I am deeply disturbed that just when this administration is finally subjected to meaningful oversight,” Mr. Leahy said, “it cannot produce the necessary information.” Representative Henry A. Waxman, the California Democrat who is chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, has asked the White House to produce records relating to nongovernment e-mail accounts by April 18. But a Democratic aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the White House told Mr. Waxman’s committee on Wednesday that it would not be able to comply fully. Mr. Waxman issued a brief statement: “This is a remarkable admission that raises serious legal and security issues. The White House has an obligation to disclose all the information it has.” The flap grows out of the investigation into the dismissals of the prosecutors. E-mail messages provided to Congress in that inquiry showed that Scott Jennings, a deputy political director for Mr. Bush, used his national committee address, ending in http://gwb43.com, to discuss them with aides to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, including D. Kyle Sampson, who resigned amid the ensuing uproar. In January, an assistant to Mr. Jennings used a http://gwb43.com account to circulate a document discussing Democrats who are being singled out for defeat in 2008. “Please do not e-mail this out or let people see it,” the e-mail read, adding, “It is a close hold, and we’re not supposed to be e-mailing it around.” Other messages have brought scrutiny as well, including exchanges between Susan Ralston, a former assistant to Mr. Rove, and Jack Abramoff, the lobbyist convicted of corruption charges. Ms. Ralston apparently preferred to e-mail Mr. Abramoff and associates on her national committee Blackberry. In one exchange, Mr. Abramoff and a colleague worried about an e-mail message that wound up in the White House system. “Dammit,” Mr. Abramoff wrote, “it was sent to Susan on her rnc pager and was not supposed to go into the WH system.” At issue is how the White House complies with two seemingly competing laws. One is the 1978 Presidential Records Act, which requires the administration to ensure that its decisions and deliberations are “adequately documented” and that records flowing out of those decisions are preserved. The other is the Hatch Act, which prohibits federal officials from engaging in political business on government time. In order to comply with the Hatch act, the Clinton administration also permitted certain officials to hold dual e-mail accounts. But Bush White House officials say theirs is the first administration to operate in the era of instant communications. They say compliance has grown more complicated, and the White House rules have not kept pace with technology. As a result of their review, Mr. Stanzel and the senior official said the White House has put into effect a policy requiring, among other things, that officials with national committee e-mail accounts obtain permission for those accounts from the White House counsel’s office. The new policy also requires officials with two accounts to sign a “statement of understanding, saying they understand their obligations here and intend to comply with them,” the senior official said. Asked if he had any evidence that officials were intentionally using the national committee accounts to circumvent record-keeping requirements, Mr. Stanzel said he had not interviewed White House aides about how they made decisions on e-mail accounts. “I can’t speak to people’s individual e-mail practices,” he said. “I think the best we can say is were trying to do a comprehensive review.”
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That is why the BushCo a$$ is hanging out there. I wish I had a 34" Louisville Slugger right now.
Breaking news!! They found all the missing emails. They were being kept by Mohammed Atta at Halliburton! Yeah, they found a briefcase in Manhattan with them! Don't question this story. It's official.
Uhhhhh... did they show up on a table next to some billing records?
#2. To: aristeides (#0)
#3. To: ... (#1)
#4. To: aristeides (#0)
The announcement of the lost e-mails _ a rare admission of error from the Bush White House at a delicate time for the administration's relations with Democratically controlled Capitol Hill _ gave new fodder for inquiry on this front.
#5. To: Fred Mertz (#4)
"There is no such thing as lost e-mails. Get the NSA on it."
#6. To: Ferret Mike (#5)
#7. To: Fred Mertz (#6)
#8. To: Fred Mertz (#4)
There is no such thing as lost e-mails. Get the NSA on it.
#9. To: aristeides (#0)
#10. To: Paul Revere (#9)
#11. To: ... (#8)
You are right.
#12. To: Fred Mertz (#11)
#13. To: Fred Mertz (#4)
There is no such thing as lost e-mails. Get the NSA on it.
#14. To: ... (#13)
#15. To: aristeides (#12)
#16. To: Fred Mertz (#11)
All e-mail is captured by the gummint, it doesn't have anything to do with the hard drives. Though, they would be quick and easy.
#17. To: aristeides (#14)
A defense attorney who knowingly conceals evidence that has been subpoenaed by Congress is taking a very big risk, as far as his license to practice law is concerned.
#18. To: Fred Mertz (#15)
Either way, lost e-mail is a non-starter. It might open some eyes, and that is a good thing.
#19. To: ... (#16)
#20. To: Fred Mertz (#19)
#21. To: aristeides (#0)
(Edited)
NY Times just picked up the story. Guess the Imus flap didn't completely blow it away.
Bush Advisers’ Approach on E-Mail Draws Fire
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
#22. To: ... (#20)
Seems the first step is to claim that the emails were "accidentally" lost.
#23. To: aristeides (#0)
#24. To: Paul Revere (#23)
Breaking news!! They found all the missing emails.
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