John Yoo "Torture E-Mails" Remain Missing

By: Brian Montopoli
Topics: In The News

(AP/ABC News, Lauren Victoria Burke)

At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Friday, Sen. Patrick Leahy (pictured), D-Vt., pressed acting Deputy Attorney General Gary Grindler on what happened to missing e-mails involving John Yoo, one of the Bush administration lawyers who wrote the memos authorizing the use of interrogation tactics since repudiated by the Obama administration.

The fact that the e-mails had gone missing was revealed by the Office of Professional Responsibility in a report on its inquiry into the conduct of Yoo and Jay Bybee (pictured below). The Office said that after it became apparent that the records they requested were incomplete, "we were told that most of Yoo's records had been deleted and were not recoverable."

Also missing were e-mails from Justice Department attorney Patrick Philbin, who had raised questions with Yoo and Bybee about their position.

Grinder was unable to explain what happened to the emails, though he said he had met with an information technology specialist concerning the matter. That prompted Leahy to implore Grinder to find the e-mails and threaten to subpoena them.

(Official photo)

Leahy noted that it is illegal to destroy official records asked why the Justice Department was not investigating the fact that the e-mails are missing, Harpers reports.

The Office of Professional Responsibility inquiry found that Yoo and Bybee made errors and employed bad judgment. It initially found that the two men had committed professional misconduct, but that decision was overruled by career Justice Department attorney David Margolis. Investigators said the inquiry was limited by the fact that e-mail records were incomplete.

In December, millions of Bush White House e-mails believed to be lost were recovered after a court battle.

Brian Montopoli
Brian Montopoli is the senior political reporter at CBSNews.com.
Follow on Twitter »

6 Comments +

Add a Comment


by Overruled1 March 5, 2010 9:49 AM EST: See what Nixon began?; Reply to this comment


by timdgrim February 27, 2010 6:36 PM EST: "I not know where emails go, you want egg roll with that?"; Reply to this comment

by earlysaid February 27, 2010 2:28 PM EST

Since Bush and Cheney are not going to be held accountable for their criminal actions it seems a waste of time to keep going after the lesser participants. They were just doing their best to please the corrupt Bush administration.

Reply to this comment


by earlysaid February 27, 2010 2:31 PM EST: America had eight years of corruption, greed and avarice. We are so much better off now that Bush/Cheney and his incompetent bunch are gone.


by earlysaid February 27, 2010 2:31 PM EST: America had eight years of corruption, greed and avarice. We are so much better off now that Bush/Cheney and his incompetent bunch are gone.