Court Hits Bush White House Over E-Mail

(AP)  A federal court tore into the Bush White House on Thursday over the issue of millions of apparently missing e-mails, saying the administration has failed in its obligation to safeguard all electronic messages.

In a four-page opinion, Magistrate Judge John Facciola said the White House is ignoring the court's instructions to search a full range of locations for all electronic messages that may be missing.

The Executive Office of the President, the magistrate said, is limiting its search to offices subject to the requirements of the Federal Records Act, while sidestepping offices subject to the preservation requirements of the Presidential Records Act.

There is a profound societal interest as well as a legal obligation to preserve all records and "the importance of preserving the e-mails cannot be exaggerated," Facciola wrote.

The Bush White House has represented to the court that no records created in an office covered by the Presidential Records Act are transmitted to offices covered by the Federal Records Act. But there is no factual record on which to base that conclusion, said Facciola.

He ordered the EOP to conduct a search of all offices regardless of which law covers a White House office.

The opinion is the third time in two days that a federal court has taken the Bush White House to task for its handling of missing e-mail, a problem first publicly disclosed three years ago by the federal prosecutor investigating the administration's leaking of Valerie Plame's CIA identity.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy issued a document preservation order, directing the White House to search employee workstations for e-mails created between March 2003 and October 2005.

At a hearing Wednesday afternoon, Facciola admonished the White House for not previously conducting a search of individual workstations as the magistrate had recommended in a report last April.

[enviro_wacko]

If laws were broken, shouldn''t there be some kind of consequences for someone or are those just for us humble subjects.

[robert2237]

cbs3200- Please tell us a crime that the Bush admin. commited?? Not one you think should be but really a crime. Not none that I can see. I am sure some on the far left will spend the next year or so or until we are in trouble with the terror groups tying to then the talking smack will go away and history will be kind to Bush. No I didn''t like a lot of what Bush did but what I didn''t like had nothing to do with war in Iraq, waterboarding or wire tapping. It had to do with how he let congress get by with spending and spending and then Barney Franks being allowed to overlook what was going on in Freddie and Fannie because of his boy friend.

[robert2237]

Deleting e mails, were far lesser felony''''s than lying about wmd''''s, breaking geneva conventions with torture and outting CIA agents.


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Please inform us as to when the gevena convention was broken??? I think you will also find if you go back and look that Bill Clinton also though that Iraq had WMD''s as did England, France, Etc Etc Etc.

I wish Mr. Bush good luck and a big thank you to him for protecting this country over the last 8 years. Now will Mr. Obama do the same, I hope and pray he does but only time will tell. His stated policies during his campaing were not stating that but he is not back tracking on what he said which is good and he is saying he will do what is needed. We will see if he does he will have my full support, if he doesn''t then it will be time to make sure he only has 4 years.

[kansas1946]

CBS will have to lay off about half of their staff next week. After Bush retires and goes home to sit around the house, they''''ll have nothing to write about.


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Posted by cmc1227 at 06:38 PM : Jan 15, 2009
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Obama will give them plenty to write about. Good news for a change.

[kansas1946]

The Bush White House has represented to the court that no records created in an office covered by the Presidential Records Act are transmitted to offices covered by the Federal Records Act. But there is no factual record on which to base that conclusion, said Facciola.
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I guess Judge Facciola didn''t the memo in 2000. January 20, 2000.
"From this day forward, anything, and that means ANYTHING, that this administration does, including traitorous actions towards the US constitution, lying, cheating, starting illegal wars, torture, etc., will be deemed legal."

So, Judge Facciola, missing emails are small potatoes to this bunch. You think murderers worry about jay-walking?

[stevex47]

"No one should have to "preserve" an e-mail at all."

Ya, that would sure make it easier if it wasn''t a felony huh?

[stevex47]

Deleting e mails, were far lesser felony''s than lying about wmd''s, breaking geneva conventions with torture and outting CIA agents.

[ghwab1949]

The aptly named Facciola is basically a fascist with no understanding of the societal irrelevance of most e-mails and how expensive and ridiculous most of his "e-discovery" rulings are. The sooner Courts decide that e-mails are generally a total waste of time, effort and money, the better. No one should have to "preserve" an e-mail at all.

[cmc1227]

Strangely, those who cheered when CBS reported Blagojevich was impeached, are completely silent about serial criminals Bush and Cheney. Bushbots want their own political bodies to stay buried.

Never mind the deceit. Can it be they do not yet understand how the GOP has smeared itself with its own corruption?

But never fear, it is not over for Bush and Cheney and others-- it has just begun.

In fact, Bush buried his misdeeds in mass graves throughout the federal turf for eight years, Bush and Cheney became so sloppy, the exhuming of their crimes will become a major industry.

The DOD, alone, is missing a trillion dollars of misspent contractor funds.

On that scale of criminal malfeasance, Bush is the nation''''s worst president, ever. Even Faux News Network will be forced to cover the story. Posted by alphaa10000

Sad thing is, after we waste all the time, millions of dollars to do all the investigating with all these special committees, Bushy won''t spend one day in a jail cell or pay one dollar in fines.

[cmc1227]

CBS will have to lay off about half of their staff next week. After Bush retires and goes home to sit around the house, they''''''''ll have nothing to write about.
Posted by cmc1227 at 06:38 PM : Jan 15, 2009

What about all of the upcoming prosecutions? The
Bushy Bunch has committed a huge number of crimes. Posteded by cbs3200

Bushy will still be sitting at home on the couch watching Jerry Springer. The majority of people just want him to go away. The few that keep talking all this stuff about "crimes" will give up after they realize it''s futile and they won''t get the support they thought. Everybody talks smack but when it comes down to acting on it they disappear.