Judge urges WH to preserve all e-mails.
Judge urges WH to preserve all e-mails.
A “U.S. magistrate on Friday rejected arguments by the Bush administration and urged a federal judge to order the White House to preserve copies of all its e-mails.” AP reports:
U.S. Magistrate Judge John M. Facciola said it is necessary to hold out the threat of a contempt of court citation to ensure that White House personnel safeguard backup tapes of electronic messages that may have been deleted. [...]
Facciola’s report to the judge stems from a controversy dating back nearly two years over missing White House e-mails. An ethics advocacy group says the White House has deleted millions of e-mails and the private organization is suing the Executive Office of the President in an attempt to force the government to reconstruct any lost messages from backup tapes.
The nonpartisan watchdog group CREW “sought this order to ensure that back-up copies of the millions of email deleted from White House servers between March 2003 and October 2005 were preserved pending resolution of CREW’s lawsuit.”
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Judge “urges” Whitehouse. Well then, that takes care of that. What has gone wrong in this world. Why won’t people do the right thing or take a stand. This judge should order the Whitehouse to preserve the e-mails. Besides, if they don’t preserve the e-mails, they will be committing a crime. Unfortunately it is a crime that everyone ignores, so they really don’t care.
October 19th, 2007 at 2:46 pmCall me when that happens.
October 19th, 2007 at 2:48 pmContempt of court?
Dose anybody in their right mind think that these tyrants care anything about judges decisions? Christ they are contemptuous of the supreme court, that Unitary Executive Theory and all.
This country is well on it’s way to the trash heap of time.
October 19th, 2007 at 2:49 pmUrges?
Aren’t they required to by law anyways?
October 19th, 2007 at 2:53 pm“This country is well on it’s way to the trash heap of time.”
Comment by rocks911
It will join many others on the pile, great and small, who failed to evolve past their own self importance.
October 19th, 2007 at 2:55 pmOh, crap. Judge “urges” the President to obey the frikkin’ law!!!
What the *bleep* is wrong with this picture?
ITMFA!!!!
October 19th, 2007 at 2:56 pmUrge, surge, splurge,
October 19th, 2007 at 2:56 pm….dirge….
Back ups which have been long lost? Good luck and a little too late.
October 19th, 2007 at 3:00 pmURGES. That’s some legal jargon, eh? Where’s the damn “activist” judges when you need ‘em?
October 19th, 2007 at 3:02 pmSo the US government doesn’t have to abide by Sarbanes-Oxley like the rest of corporate America does? Figures.
October 19th, 2007 at 3:04 pmAll the White House hears is a faint buzzing sound…
What about all the e-mails sent on special RNC addresses to circumvent the law? Anything said about that?
October 19th, 2007 at 3:07 pmU.S. Magistrate Judge John M. Facciola said it is necessary to hold out the threat of a contempt of court citation to ensure that White House personnel safeguard backup tapes of electronic messages that may have been deleted
A threat of contempt of court is more than an urge.
Just saying…..
October 19th, 2007 at 3:07 pmSo the US government doesn’t have to abide by Sarbanes-Oxley like the rest of corporate America does? Figures.
Comment by Race Condition — October 19, 2007 @ 3:04 pm
You’re so silly! Sarbanes-Oxley is only for those who have to be accountable! This White House doesn’t have to be accountable to anyone don’t you know.
sarcasm OFF!
October 19th, 2007 at 3:09 pmContempt of court is grounds for Impeachment, unless Pelosi is still Speaker of the House…….
October 19th, 2007 at 3:09 pmOh,sh!t!!
Urges?
Aren’t they required to by law anyways?
Comment by Squegeeboo
Of course they are. But since the Bush Administration doesn’t give a rats ass about the law, a judge is going to have to do more than “urge” them to obey the law.
The effects of this President are going to be felt by this country for a generation or more. We already have other politicians following Bush’s lead and refusing to comply with subpoenas. Can you blame them? If the President and his administration doesn’t have to comply with subpoenas, why should anyone else?
October 19th, 2007 at 3:13 pmmissmolly sez:
That’s the sound of the bulk eraser.
October 19th, 2007 at 3:14 pmContempt of court is grounds for Impeachment, unless Pelosi is still Speaker of the House…….
Oh,sh!t!!
Comment by Wayne — October 19, 2007 @ 3:09 pm
Ya Think!! Either Nan is SERIOUSLY being blackmailed or she is the biggest wass this side of Harry Reid.
October 19th, 2007 at 3:14 pmA threat of contempt of court is more than an urge.
Just saying…..
Comment by Wayne
Not by much. It’s still just a threat. When it becomes reality, then I will know they mean business.
October 19th, 2007 at 3:15 pmThe Gettybush Address
Four score and seven million lost Emails ago, our forebushers brought forth on this continent a new regime, conceived in lunacy and dedicated to the proposition that all Bush crime family members are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil discourse, testing whether that regime or any regime, so constipated and so daffy, can long endure…
October 19th, 2007 at 3:15 pmBack ups which have been long lost? Good luck and a little too late.
Comment by theswan
No, the backup tapes were found. CREW is just trying to make sure they are not lost again by their lawsuit.
October 19th, 2007 at 3:16 pmComment by Oval12345678 aka James K. Sayre
Good one. Bravo!
October 19th, 2007 at 3:17 pmThese Fascist War Criminals have had WAY to much time to cover their tracks. They should of DEMANDED the deleted E-mails the very day they learned of it, and backed that up with legal documents and subpoenas.
Too little Too late, when you are dealing with CRIMINALS you need to act fast and not give them time to get their “STORIES STRAIGHT” and “COVER THEIR TRACKS”.
Buck Fush
October 19th, 2007 at 3:23 pmThis is a complex case. Remember, there are two White House e-mail scandals going on. The first is the White House staff’s use of the gwb43.com e-mail system to keep records out of public hands.
The second is that the White House official e-mail system, the one with the .gov suffix, broke down and the White House never bothered to fix it, despite the law.
So what we’re actually talking about here is recovering e-mail sent through the official .gov system (we already know that the important stuff was sent through gwb43.com) – and the Judge has recommended the White House be forced to recover any of the .gov records.
This doesn’t touch the gwb43.com issue, where the e-mail stuff that really matters is.
Still, someone at the White House went so far as to disable the official system – so someone had something to fear that the .gov addresses might be a problem at some point too.
October 19th, 2007 at 3:35 pmAs a point of clarification, a U.S. magistrate is appointed by the judges of the various federal district courts to help expedite cases. The opinions of the magistrates are not binding on the judges. In this case, U.S. Magistrate Judge Facciola is urging the district court judge to order the Bush adminstration to preserve copies of the emails. Whether or not that is better than urging the White House depends on who the district court judge is, but at least there’s a chance.
October 19th, 2007 at 3:43 pmComment by CitiDC — October 19, 2007 @ 3:35 pm
It is a shame that it a Citizen group that has to take this to court, while the Department of (in?)Justice, that is supposed to enforce the law is participating in the coverup.
In 7 years Bush has transformed out country into a 2-bit tinhorn, drunkard dictator ruled Banana Republic.
October 19th, 2007 at 3:50 pmBilly Hill, you one funny troll. You worked hard on that post too, didn’t you? Good boy. Here’s a cookie.
October 19th, 2007 at 4:10 pmUrges?
Aren’t they required to by law anyways?
Comment by Squegeeboo — October 19, 2007 @ 2:53 pm
Yes. The Federal Records Act and the President Records Act require that all e-mails be saved. Sarbanes-Oxley is not applicable; applies to business not government.
October 19th, 2007 at 4:42 pmQuickm, White house aides, print them all out and shred them!!
October 19th, 2007 at 5:06 pmThe White House is now staffed by the “C Team” so if there are any records left, it’s probably a 50/50 chance that they’d be able to locate and destroy them. Hell, they couldn’t even put the Mexican Ambassador’s name on the admit list for Hispanic Heritage Month at the WH!
October 19th, 2007 at 5:26 pmAs a Republican I don’t believe I should have to obey the Law of the Land, and I have no use for the Constitution or the freedoms that it sets out, unless they apply to only members of my party, and only if they are rich, male (at least on the surface) and white. I believe, as a Republican, that when Republicans govern, they should make off with as much of the US Treasury funds as they can get away with, and that anybody that tries to stop us should be destroyed as quickly as possible, without regard of legality or morality. As a Republican, I pledge to reduce the USA to a third-world banana republic, by installing a coke-addled dry-drunk fratboy who deserted in time of war as president, and a psychopathic hit man as his string-puller. Even though fewer than 1/4 of all Americans will support this state of affairs, those few zealots will make enough noise that our rightwing, bought-and-paid-for media will support us in every illegal, immoral, unAmerican endeavor we undertake.
Until the American people smarten up. Then we move to Paraguay.
October 19th, 2007 at 6:22 pmOh now, Ralph – don’t give the troll any cookies. You know how they are when they’re on a sugar high!!
October 19th, 2007 at 6:44 pmThe White House and the RNC should be ordered to turn over all emails (and servers) to a special master now.
October 20th, 2007 at 2:19 amI’m sorry Facciola, all those emails were lost in between the internets. I think there was a hole in the series of tubes.
October 20th, 2007 at 7:30 amThis is just another waste of time.
October 20th, 2007 at 10:32 amThis mafiosi administration will continue deleting emails, and doing whatever they want – AND NOTHUNG WILL HAPPEN!
There is kind of a “misterious force” in Washington that is preventing all their crimes from being prosecuted. The crimes are exposed, but not prosecuted. This WH gets away with everything.
Only in America…