White House Missing Email Saga

June 20, 2007

This email nonsense at the White House has really become a farce of unholy proportions. Now it appear that 88 White House staffers had been using the Republican email system for official government business. Hmmm. Correct me if I’m wrong but is that not against the Presidential Records Act of 1978? Now, in section 2203 of the Act we find this,

(c) During his term of office, the President may dispose of those of his Presidential records that no longer have administrative, historical, informational, or evidentiary value if—
(1) the President obtains the views, in writing, of the Archivist concerning the proposed disposal of such Presidential records; and
(2) the Archivist states that he does not intend to take any action under subsection (e) of this section.
(d) In the event the Archivist notifies the President under subsection (c) that he does intend to take action under subsection (e), the President may dispose of such Presidential records if copies of the disposal schedule are submitted to the appropriate Congressional Committees at least 60 calendar days of continuous session of Congress in advance of the proposed disposal date. For the purpose of this section, continuity of session is broken only by an adjournment of Congress sine die, and the days on which either House is not in session because of an adjournment of more than three days to a day certain are excluded in the computation of the days in which Congress is in continuous session.

I have yet to see anyone bring forward evidence that there was any such notice given. I would be very interested to see that Cheney’s email is carefully archived for ~~legal proceedings~~ posterity.

Now, before I start hearing any foolishness that the President and the VP might be held to separate measures read this section,

Â§ 2207. Vice-Presidential records

Vice-Presidential records shall be subject to the provisions of this chapter in the same manner as Presidential records. The duties and responsibilities of the Vice President, with respect to Vice-Presidential records, shall be the same as the duties and responsibilities of the President under this chapter with respect to Presidential records. The authority of the Archivist with respect to Vice-Presidential records shall be the same as the authority of the Archivist under this chapter with respect to Presidential records, except that the Archivist may, when the Archivist determines that it is in the public interest, enter into an agreement for the deposit of Vice-Presidential records in a non-Federal archival depository. Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to authorize the establishment of separate archival depositories for such Vice-Presidential records.

Bearing in mind that there are clearly emails “missing” for Karl Rove in particular prior to November 2003 as well as various blocks of time for 87 other staffers, where are the subpoenas? Where are the jumpsuits?

A White House spokesman had stated that only a handful of people were using Republican Party email accounts to conduct government business, but the number has now risen to 88.

Over 50 of these have no email records at all and there are only 130 emails from Karl Rove during President Bush’s first term and none before November 2003.

Even if the records were not intentionally destroyed there is a clear violation of the law. Ignorance of the law is no defense.

And of course I had to share this gem from the article on vnunet.com