It will be interesting to see how the sparring over these emails pans out. As many have already noted, parking these emails on private servers drastically undermines the effectiveness of privilege arguments. On the other hand, it also undercuts Congress's arguments that it is entitled to see them in the first place.
Posted by dj moonbat at March 26, 2007 12:51 PMIt seemingly didn't stop HUAC or Joe McCarthy from prying into private communications ...
Posted by Steve Soto at March 26, 2007 12:59 PMIt seemingly didn't stop HUAC or Joe McCarthy from prying into private communications ...
And, as I learned last year while writing a paper on executive privilege, an enormous literature arguing for a nearly unlimited executive privilege arose during the Eisenhower years precisely because Joe McCarthy's endeavors left such a bad taste in everyone's mouth. Only after Nixon did people begin to think that perhaps we might want to swing the pendulum back.
I'd love to see those emails, just like anybody. But the fact that they're on private servers cuts both ways, that's all.
Posted by dj moonbat at March 26, 2007 01:05 PMWhy don't they just ask the FBI or NSA of the Emails? I am sure they have copies.
Posted by goose1 at March 26, 2007 01:12 PMWhy don't they just ask the FBI or NSA of the Emails? I am sure they have copies.
Let's assume for the moment the NSA has copies of every email everywhere. On what legal basis that we liberals would be comfortable with would Congress demand of the NSA that they provide those emails to Congress without first going through the courts?
Posted by dj moonbat at March 26, 2007 01:15 PMdj, I wondered the same thing about whether the Waxman would be able to get ahold of those emails as soon as I saw the blurb at dKos. But isn't Rove violating the law in not keeping any official records at all? And if not, should he not have to pay back all the taxpayer's money that went to his salary, if (in effect) he were only working for the RNC?
Come on, that scummy little criminal has to be gotten to somehow!
Posted by iamcoyote at March 26, 2007 01:56 PMBut isn't Rove violating the law in not keeping any official records at all?
But we don't know what's in them. Maybe they're all mash notes to Jeff Gannon.
Posted by dj moonbat at March 26, 2007 01:58 PM"Sure, the RNC and Bush/Cheney will now furiously delete all these emails if they haven’t done so already,..."
If the e-mails get deleted on the White House's ordering then you have obstruction of justice and evidence tampering.
Posted by Jason at March 26, 2007 02:05 PMIf the e-mails get deleted on the White House's ordering then you have obstruction of justice and evidence tampering.
These things always get deleted as part of an Orwellian-named "records retention policy."
Posted by dj moonbat at March 26, 2007 02:17 PMAnd now we have the liason between DOJ and WH taking the 5th! Yup, they're going to run out the clock with legal shit, then Bush will take his money and run, and the B-team will be left holding the bag. This has been the biggest con in history!
Posted by iamcoyote at March 26, 2007 02:20 PMWell if these guys needed to stoop to using RNC email addresses to try and conceal their belowboard communications about axing a few US Attorneys it sorta makes you wonder how anyone could believe the same group planned and conducted the 9/11 attacks.
Posted by snark at March 26, 2007 02:22 PMAnd now we have the liason between DOJ and WH taking the 5th!
Yeah, see -- there's just no good way to explain away a senior DoJ official pleading the fifth on this. Gonzo is toast. And the person taking the fifth is the WH liaison, too. That doesn't look good at all.
Posted by dj moonbat at March 26, 2007 02:26 PMOn what legal basis that we liberals would be comfortable with would Congress demand of the NSA that they provide those emails to Congress without first going through the courts?
All you need is the criminal intent implied by statements coming from the fired AGs. Certainly you can go through the courts. Justice would be sweet indeed if aspects of the Patriot Act could be put in play and records from the big communications companies subpoenaed. Let's face it. Nothing is ever truly deleted. And the CIA still wants their piece of ass for the Plame affair and the covert agents killed after her outing. The records will very shortly be coming forth.
Posted by phidipides at March 26, 2007 05:48 PMWhy can't their hard drives be subpoenaed?
Posted by Via at March 26, 2007 09:10 PMThey could, in principle, subpoena the hard drives, but hard drives can be wiped so that data is unrecoverable. Even better, they can be smashed with a sledgehammer.
You can subpoena all you want, but if the subject says they've turned over everything that's relevant, and you can't prove otherwise, you're outta luck.
So no, I don't think this was a blunder at all. It might undermine the claim of executive privilege, but if the evidence is vaporized, they still win.
Posted by cervantes at March 28, 2007 10:58 AM