White House On E-Mails: "We Screwed Up"

(CBS/AP)  The White House admits that some e-mails about the U.S. Attorney firings may have been destroyed and that some staffers may have improperly done official business on Republican Party e-mail accounts, CBS News White House correspondent Jim Axelrod reports.

The claim that e-mails sent on a Republican Party account might have been lost was challenged Thursday by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, who quipped that even his teenage neighbor could find them.

"They say they have not been preserved. I don't believe that!" Leahy shouted from the Senate floor as the dispute over the firing of federal prosecutors continued at a high pitch. "That's like saying the dog ate my homework. It doesn't work that way."

"You can't erase e-mails, not today. They've gone through too many servers," said Leahy, D-Vt. "Those e-mails are there; they just don't want to produce them. We'll subpoena them if necessary."

Separately, Leahy's committee approved — but did not issue — new subpoenas to compel the administration to produce documents and testimony about the firings.

Another 1,000 pages of documents are about to be released by the Justice Department investigators, Axelrod reports.

White House officials insisted the administration is making a genuine effort to recover any missing e-mails that had been sent on an account sponsored by the Republican National Committee.

"I understand his point, but he's wrong," said spokeswoman Dana Perino.

But while Perino pushed back on questions about the e-mails, she also made an uncommonly candid admission.

"We're being very honest and forthcoming," she added. "I hope that he would understand the spirit in which we have come forward and tried to explain how we screwed up our policy and how we're working to fix it."

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, fighting to save his job, is to testify to Congress next Tuesday.

In the meantime, Democrats have kept up pressure on the administration with closed-door interviews of department officials and votes to authorize subpoenas for documents and aides involved in the firings.

The investigation has revealed that White House e-mails about official business — on electronic accounts intended for political matters — may be gone, in violation of a law that requires their preservation. Twenty-two White House officials, including political adviser Karl Rove, have the accounts sponsored by the Republican National Committee, administration officials say.

White House spokesman Scott Stanzel on Thursday could not rule out that some of the missing e-mails involved the attorney firings.

The president has asked the legal counsel's office to "take all reasonable steps" to see if the messages can be retrieved, reports CBS News White House correspondent Peter Maer. The counsel's office has contacted forensics experts to determine if the issue can be resolved.

For the second day in a row, White House officials would not say whether the missing e-mails could be recovered.

Leahy scoffed.

"I've got a teenage kid in my neighborhood that can go get 'em for them," he told reporters.

Retorted Perino: "I don't know if Sen. Leahy is also an IT expert."

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[kcstan11]

It's time to impeach this whole stinkin administration ... from the White House gardener right up to DUMBYA ....

[randalds]

No wonder $10 Billion got misplaced in Iraq and Walter Reed got as bad as it did. The whole junta is so F'd Up, they have to start all over daily; they can't keep up with records or documents. The New-Ku-Ler codes must be handwritten on a piece of paper that's taped to the inside of the football's case, unless they're lost.
Posted by firststate at 02:27 AM : Apr 14, 2007

Personally I have little doubt that a large piece of that missing $10 billion is safely stashed away in bank accounts in Dubai waiting for the end of this presidency so Cheney can pick it up. I'm also sure that Papa Doc Bush (George H.W.) has his share of it stashed away somewhere too from his cut that came the way of the Carlye Group. After all he can't depend on his idiot son Baby Doc Bush to be smart enough to grab any, so he has Babs with her finger to his back to make him do it for him.

[firststate]

I'd be more comfortable if someone else's forensic experts were working on the data retrieval. These experts could just as easily be making sure they got rid of all the emails.

There are definitely criminal acts involved. Deleting the emails was a crime, end of story. Numbnuts, himself couldn't lawfully delete them. The effort involved in really deleting them would make the effort required to "unintentionally" erase the Nixon Watergate tapes pale in comparison, even though the tapes had been subjected to numerous erasures. If the Nixon Watergate conversations had been transmitted on phone lines throughout the Mid-Atlantic and recorded at various locations with time and transmission details embedded on the tape, with backup copies made at some locations, then successfully erasing all the tapes for the same time-span, including the backups several times over, would begin to compare to deleting JUST ONE of the emails.

Even hardcore bushies should hope the deletions were intended to hide evidence. If it were an accident, the DichNBush team aren't competent to handle a McDonald's order. No wonder $10 Billion got misplaced in Iraq and Walter Reed got as bad as it did. The whole junta is so F'd Up, they have to start all over daily; they can't keep up with records or documents. The New-Ku-Ler codes must be handwritten on a piece of paper that's taped to the inside of the football's case, unless they're lost.

[waynabq]

Who is this jerk to say someone is lying? What does he know that no one else knows?
Posted by lawandorder6 at 12:20 PM : Apr 13, 2007

If you support Bush and his cronies, your handle is definitely a "misnomer".

[david1737]

There comes a point when even the most loyal of people have to step back and question themselves. If you still support the Bush Administration at this point, then just ask yourself the following question. Is the Bush Administration truly taking our country in the right direction?

[toldyouso21]

"But while Perino pushed back on questions about the e-mails, she also made an uncommonly candid admission. "

Meaning piglet is generally a big, fat, little liar.

[bobnjersey]

[They believe that anything they do is, by definition, good and right, and therefore there is never anything wrong with attempts to hide it or even misleading the country about what they did.]

this little trait right here is really the most troubling of all ... cause this means that there aint no end to this until someone else decides it's over.

[shingles1]

Glenn Greenwald has a nice post which catalogs just how common this Administration "accidentally" loses information and evidence, particularly when it's vital to an ongoing investigation. It's not just once or twice, but CONSTANT, almost as if it's STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE for these clowns.

And I quote:

This administration does not believe it is subject to oversight or the rule of law. They hate investigations and scrutiny and do everything possible -- legal and illegal -- to block them...

...They affirmatively believe in lying and destroying evidence and obstructing investigations in order to conceal their behavior. They believe that anything they do is, by definition, good and right, and therefore there is never anything wrong with attempts to hide it or even misleading the country about what they did.

[randalds]

Here's what you don't seem to know "jerk". The emails cannot be deleted or lost. The average teenager could find them. I could very easily find them as could you, assuming you are able to take your head out of your backside.


Posted by frankly6 at 02:10 PM : Apr 13, 2007

I wouldn't bet real money on that last part frankly. I mean it's not fair to him since as a Bush supporter his head is permanently stuck up there.

[forthepeopl1]

its time to march down to washington