Rove used GOP e-mail extensively

[EV_Ares]

By RON HUTCHESON of McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON -- A report from a House panel has found that although 140,216 of presidential adviser Karl Rove's e-mails sent through the Republican National Committee's computer system have been preserved, e-mails from 51 of the 88 White House aides who used the back-channel message system appear to have been destroyed.

What's new

Investigators for the House Oversight Committee said they could find no record of e-mails from Ken Mehlman, a former Rove aide who later became Republican Party chairman. Susan Ralston, another former Rove aide, told investigators that Mehlman regularly used the RNC e-mail system when he worked at the White House.

"At this point in the investigation, it is not possible to determine how many presidential records have been destroyed by the RNC," the committee staff reported. "The committee has obtained evidence of potentially extensive violations of the Presidential Records Act by senior White House officials."

Ralston also told congressional investigators that Rove sent almost all of his e-mails through the RNC system and used a Blackberry he received from the Republican Party on his first day at the White House.

The law

The 1978 law requires the White House to preserve official documents. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who was White House counsel at the time, may have known about the White House aides' use of the RNC e-mail system, but he took no action to stop destruction of the records, the report said.

Reaction

A Republican Party spokeswoman dismissed the committee report as "political spin."

Democrats suggested that White House aides used the back-channel e-mail system to hide potentially embarrassing, or even possibly incriminating, messages -- an allegation White House officials have vehemently denied.

What's next

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the House Oversight Committee chairman, said the panel would continue to push for more information on the missing e-mails.

House Oversight Committee interim report, http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1362

http://www.star-telegram.com/national_news/story/141742.html

[lazer47]

1. Can you spell RICO???

[crikkett]

2. Hm. Remember the day when the Blackberry network went down?

now the email of 54 of 88 aides (including Mehlman, who hid the fact that he received gifts from Abramoff) is missing.

I think that Blackberry network went down shortly after we first heard noises that Rove's emails were going to be subpoenaed, however that's spelled. I think that week too, many users mysteriously lost all their GMAIL stuff - but after all, it is still in beta.

It's curious.

[EV_Ares]

3. You could be on to something there, remember that. What is the deal

or point you are making on the GMail thing? Thanks.

[crikkett]

4. another co-incidence that I heard about after the fact,

was a gmail outage with instances of lost data at about the same time that the blackberry network went down.

maybe something's up
:tinfoilhat:

on edit: the "it's in beta" in my first comment was a reference to software releases. I was tired, sorry for being incoherent. Software "in beta" is not completely debugged, it's released with an understanding that users are actually helping to test it, so users can't get upset at lost data.

[Ghost in the Machine]

8. I've got one of the original Gmail Beta accounts and have never lost

anything through it in all the years I've had it, nor have I experienced any outages. If anyone wants a Gmail account, I still have 100 invites to send out...

[L. Coyote]

5. Lots of links here to the Committee, et.al.

WAXMAN: 88 WH officials used RNC e-mail, KARL ROVE = 140,216 e-mails
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1135241

[emulatorloo]

6. kick n/t

[Robbien]

7. How is this not a criminal offense?

Oh yeah, right, it is not if the United States Attorney General says it is not. Or prefers not to pursue the matter.

[KharmaTrain]

9. He Wore "Two Hats"

He was the "Political Diretor"...now what the hell is he supposed to be doing? The sham here is to assume that Rove served any real nation purpose...this was like giving Boss Tweed an office in the White House. To think this dude didn't use any and all mechanisms of the government and the party and jump back and forth between the two are either naive or wanting to let this sham go on. Add to this his intricate knowledge of the party apparatus and his ability to control that, the executive and a coward corporate media and surely Karl felt and still feels bulletproof.

There's a murky line here that surely will end up in court...and that's where the government stops and the partisan begins. The only means to flesh this out will be the squeezing of his underlings who were the ones who did the crimes and then circle the legal noose around Rove's neck. We won't need his emails to hang him, we'll get them from those who will end up giving him up. And the time is rapidly approaching when I see that happening.