White House, Senators to Confer on E-Mail Expert

[maddezmom]

Source: Associated Press

Associated Press
Sunday, April 15, 2007; Page A04


The White House said yesterday that it has accepted the Senate Judiciary Committee's proposal on how to choose an outside consultant to help recover lost e-mails involving official presidential business.

White House counsel Fred F. Fielding called Sens. Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.) and Arlen Specter (Pa.) -- the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, respectively -- to say that their suggestion to allow committee input on the choice of a consultant was a good idea, spokeswoman Dana Perino said.


White House and committee staffers plan to meet early this week to move forward, she said.

The White House acknowledged last week that aides to President Bush improperly used e-mail accounts created by the Republican Party to conduct official White House business, and that an undetermined number of those e-mails have been lost.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/14/AR2007041401243.html

[hang a left]

1. Let the outrage begin!!!

Amongst the populace. We have already been outraged to the limit.

[Erika]

2. The RNC and the WH became one and our access was lost

Such a travesty for our country.

[wake.up.america]

3. Yep, The morons have managed to bring many of th governmental institutions into ill repute.. Hope th

are happy.

[jimshoes]

4. If the White House is

being very cooperative, they must be fairly confident they scrubbed those e-mails from existence. Somewhere though, I just know shitflower has copies of all of them hidden because of their blackmail value. It's his MO.

[rodeodance]

6. yes, I agree, Trust but VERIFY when it comes to that group of thugs!

[rodeodance]

5. gee, so the WH will now "allow" Congress INPUT. Are we suppose to

say Thank you, How kind of you to "allow" input ?????????

[rodeodance]

7. "the loss of the e-mails appeared to be honest mistakes." --NOPE!

The e-mails were discovered to be missing during a congressional investigation into the firing of eight federal prosecutors.

White House officials said the improper use of the accounts and the loss of the e-mails appeared to be honest mistakes. They are trying to recover the missing e-mails and are clarifying policy on preserving records.

Separate accounts were created for about 50 White House aides in the Bush administration who get involved in party politics. The intent is to avoid violations of rules that bar federal employees from using government resources for political activities.

[Peace Patriot]

8. It's a miracle! It's a miracle! A building achieves human consciousness--and speaks!

This sloppy way of writing and thinking is going to be our undoing. And it is so typical of AP, one of the worst of the war profiteering corporate news monopolies.

"The White House said yesterday..."

"The White House acknowledged last week..."

Rove and the Bushite fascists know how to use these kinds of slippy-slidey corporate news monopoly practices--"The White House said...," "Mistakes were made"--copied from the PR departments of global corporate predators--to deflect responsibility for crime, and, more than this, to acquire legitimacy.

But if the "White House" could really speak--and don't we wish it could--what tales it could tell us! My, my.

---------------------------

On the gist of the OP, I think it's the subpoena authorization that the Senate committee issued the other day. If the "White House" doesn't compromise on a computer forensic expert, they are going to have one inflicted on them by the Senate. As I understand the state of things right now, the subpoenas have been authorized but not issued or delivered. Leahy and Specter are holding potential subpoenas over Fielding's head. If subpoenas are issued, Fielding's wiggle room for withholding information is greatly reduced.

And I don't think Rove, Gonzales, Fielding and others involved have had time to deal with the estimated 5 million missing emails. Every day that goes by, however, increases the risk of destroyed information. I don't think the Senators should be playing cat and mouse with them, at this point. They should deliver the subpoenas which should specify that they immediately turn over all server computers and hard drives. The evidence is overwhelming that Rove and others have already tried to destroy information, in violation of a number of laws. Probable cause exists.

[annabanana]

11. "But if the "White House" could really speak"

Now THAT's a memoir I'd lay out cash for!!

[LiberalFighter]

9. I wouldn't consider this something that should be negotiated

And I don't want a god damn consultant! I want a computer geek that knows how to recover the emails.

What does Fielding want to negotiate? He wants an idiot geezer like Bush to recover the emails? He wants an expert with the right program to selectively delete incriminating emails? Email that has specific names in the email automatically deleted?

[C_U_L8R]

10. Consultant?? How about the FBI ?

Or better yet.. the NSA/

[cyberpj]

12. Don't trust Leahy or Specter to know what needs to be done - Write, Call, and TELL THEM! nt