Whether they are lying or not, it seems unbelievably stupid of the Bush administration to say they have “lost” official records on non-official communication channels:
President Bush’s aides are lying about White House e-mails sent on a Republican account that might have been lost, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy suggested Thursday, vowing to subpoena those documents if the administration fails to cough them up.
“They say they have not been preserved. I don’t believe that!” Leahy shouted from the Senate floor.
[…]
Democrats say the firings might have been improper, but that probe yielded a weightier question: Whether White House officials such as political adviser Karl Rove are intentionally conducting sensitive official presidential business via non-governmental accounts to evade a law requiring preservation – and eventual disclosure – of presidential records.
What person or corporation in this country is going to abide by the plethora of data retention laws meant to protect the rights of citizens when the conduct of this President and his subordinates continues to be so pathetically disrespectful?
Here’s an excellent opportunity for the phrase “unintended consequences.” Remember how it was revealed that the NSA was doing wholesale electronic eavesdropping without a warrant. Well now’s our chance to take advantage of that. Lets get the missing e-mails from the electronic warrantless wiretapping by subpoenaing AT&T and the other ISPs who participated in the NSA program.
Aha!