Pincus: Senate Opens Inquiry into Leaked Memos

[kskiska]

Computer Files Discussed Democrats' Strategy on Bush Judicial Nominations
By Walter Pincus

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Frist spokeswoman Amy Call said the office was cooperating with the investigation but would have no further comment

Five committee Republicans have objected to Sergeant-at-Arms William Pickle allowing anyone to read their backup tapes without their consent. They also want the inquiry to be limited to examining the "memoranda in question and no other files."

Three days after the Wall Street Journal article appeared, Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), ranking Democrat on the Judiciary committee along with Kennedy and Durbin, requested that Pickle hire security experts to determine who retrieved the documents.

They also asked for an audit of logs to determine who may have been trying to access the files or directories from which the memos had been copied. Two days later, the senators complained to Hatch that he had not yet given consent for the committee hard drives to be turned over to Pickle.

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That same day, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.), a Judiciary committee member who asked Pickle to get his permission before accessing his computer files, took the Senate floor to discuss the memos.

After saying he awaited the outcome of the investigation to see how the memos were obtained, he said that now they have "entered into the public domain, and I think it is important that we address these memos and what, in fact, they confirm about the obstruction and destructive politics that have taken hold of the judicial confirmation process and which have left me concerned that there is no foreseeable end to the current gridlock."

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17502-2003Nov27.html