BREAKING : RNC Tells Staff To Preserve All Documents Related To 2016 Campaign

[sunonmars]

https://www.buzzfeed.com/henrygomez/rnc-tells-staff-to-preserve-all-documents-related-to-2016?utm_term=.oj2w96dnw#.pxoyrk7xy

Republican National Committee employees have been asked to preserve all documents related to last year’s presidential campaign — a step RNC lawyers describe as precautionary, but necessary, as investigations continue into Russia’s meddling in the election.

“Given the important role that the RNC plays in national elections and the potentially expansive scope of the inquiries and investigations, it is possible that we will be contacted with requests for information,” reads a July 28 memo to staff from the RNC counsel’s office.

"Therefore, we must preserve all documents potentially relevant to these matters until they are resolved or until we are informed by all necessary parties that preservation is no longer necessary."

BuzzFeed News obtained a copy of the memo, which orders employees not to “delete, destroy, modify, or remove from your paper files, laptop computer, desktop computer, tablet, mobile device, e-mail, or any storage system or device, any documents, records, or other materials that relate to the 2016 presidential election or that may relate to any investigation concerning the election.” An RNC source confirmed the memo’s authenticity Monday morning.

According to the memo, the RNC “has not been contacted regarding any of the ongoing investigations, and there is no specific reason to believe we will be. Nonetheless, we have an obligation to keep potentially relevant documents. This is standard procedure for any organization that may be in a position to provide helpful or otherwise relevant information to litigants or investigators. Serious consequences will result for anyone who fails to comply with this obligation.”

The memo is the latest sign of the legal concerns gripping Washington as special counsel Robert Mueller and Congress probe Russian government efforts to influence the election.

................

WHOA

[Sanity Claws]

1. Timing?

This comes the first business day following Reince P's firing. Is this a sign that the RNC is at odds with Trump Administration and willing to preserve / turn over documents to investigators?

[regnaD kciN]

4. Not if it could incriminate them, too...

Personally, I think it's a coded message: Go on a shredding spree at once, before "officially" receiving this e-mail.

[Sanity Claws]

6. I agree RNC would do it only if the documents would not also incriminate the RNC

There may be such documents, such as warnings from RNC, that Trump may be running afoul of campaign financing law.
Or there may be totally innocuous documents that would indicate that Trump campaign has destroyed or withheld documents from production.

[DBoon]

15. And destroy documents very well

Because if you are caught, we will leave you hanging

[onetexan]

16. my thoughts exactly

i'm sure the communication was RNC's code for get the shredding going as quickly as you can and destroy every piece of digital evidence you have pronto.

[barbtries]

12. i hope that's what it is.

i really do.

[Zambero]

2. Now that the shredding is complete

Gotta walk the straight & narrow y'know!

[erronis]

20. Jeez, a bunch of cynics here on DU! Of course the RNC is being upfront and honest

About making sure every last document implicating them is shredded.

Why the panties in wedgies? This the way they've always done everything.

Can't win in the news media? Blast the ones that are honest.
Can't win by in public opinion? Send out your own lying press briefings. You have bought a bunch of "experts".
Can't win by having fair voting districts? Redistrict.
Can't win by allowing certain people to vote? Limit their access.
Can't win by popular vote? Use leverage in that archaic electoral college (BTW, appointed within each state).
Can't win otherwise? Hack the apparatus

Still not satisfied? Hack the SCOTUS.

Finally, ignore the constitution.

Ignore probity and common sense for the survival of the country you live in. Maybe not the country you've actually pledged fealty to.

[Grammy23]

3. Hmmm....somebody knows something.

Otherwise, why worry about "preserving documents related to the 2016 campaign"?

Something is in the wind....

Is it time to pop the corn?

[Zoonart]

5. I've seen posts indicating that there is suspicion that...

the Russian money laundering operation flooded the RNC , (via shell LLC's) with money that was disbursed to races across the country and that Mueller may be looking at a RICO case that ensnares the RNC as a whole.

Could be absolutely BS, then again...

[Gabi Hayes]

9. That's bezackly what this is all about because they're all

TRAITORS

[R B Garr]

13. Ooh, that is delicious! This move does look like some folks are wanting

a clear separation from others. Some old guard GOP probably wants to make it clear to separate the crooks.

Let the finger pointing commence!

[spanone]

7. K&R..

[Gabi Hayes]

8. Oh, OK

[marylandblue]

10. This is NOT an order to shred

The problem with email these days is that multiple copies are made in multiple locations, they can get fowarded beyond where you sent them, and you can't guarantee that they are all disappeared beyond recovery. So, the deleter then becomes a target for deliberately destroying evidence.

Case in point -Clinton's "missing" emails. Even though they were removed from her own server, the FBI recovered most of them from the recipients email records. This was perhaps the most underreported story of 2016.

[barbtries]

11. in upside down world

that could be a directive to start shredding, deleting, wiping, re-deleting, re-wiping, sending hard drives to the dump, and in general sanitizing the RNC.

i'm just saying. don't trust them, don't trust their motives.

[WePurrsevere]

14. Almost 9 MONTHS after the election they say this?

Hell's bells! Under normal circumstances I'd have most, if not all, of that 'old' stuff off of my electronic devices already to reclaim the space. If I thought it might get me or my party in trouble I'd be even more inclined to smash, shred & burn ASAP. (Which I would think anyone with even half a brain should have been considering as soon as Mueller was appointed. )

[Iggo]

17. Phew! Just in time!

[lindysalsagal]

18. Seriously- I would have thought this had happened months ago....

[TheBlackAdder]

19. Oops. If only you let us know last week. {wink} {wink}

.



.

[Lil Missy]

21. And this is big news because???

(I don't mean the OP, I mean to the country in general)