Obama administration backs Bush, tries to kill 'lost' White House emails lawsuit

[avaistheone1]

Missing email includes day Cheney's office told to preserve emails in CIA leak case
WASHINGTON -- Welcome to change.

The Obama administration, siding with former President George W. Bush, is trying to kill a lawsuit that seeks to recover what could be millions of missing White House e-mails in a stunning reversal of Obama's rhetoric about Bush secrecy on the campaign trail.

Two advocacy groups suing the Executive Office of the President, including one of the groups that helped derail former House Speaker Tom DeLay, say that large amounts of White House e-mail documenting Bush's eight years in office may still be missing, and that the government must undertake an extensive recovery effort. They expressed disappointment that Obama's Justice Department is continuing the Bush administration's bid to get the lawsuits dismissed.

During its first term, the Bush White House failed to install electronic record-keeping for e-mail when it switched to a new system, allegedly resulting in millions of messages that could not be found.

The Bush White House "discovered the problem" in 2005 and rejected a proposed solution.

The exact number of missing e-mails is unknown, but several days on which e-mails were not archived covered key dates in a Justice Department inquiry into the roles of Vice President Dick Cheney and his aides in leaking the identity of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson.

Ironically, Cheney's office is missing emails from the very day President Bush told reporters he'd "take care of" whatever staff member had actually leaked the CIA agent's name.

"If there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is," Bush said Sept. 30, 2003. "And if the person has violated the law, the person will be taken care of."

No e-mails were archived on the very day the probe was announced and White House officials were ordered to maintain anything that could become evidence in the investigation that ended the conviction of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, on perjury and obstruction of justice charges.

Emails are missing from at least some of 473 days of Bush's presidency

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Obama_administration_trying_to_kill_Bush_0222.html



Why does Obama want to cover up Bush/Cheney illegal activity? Existing law says these records must be kept by the federal government.

[jody]

1. Brace yourself for posts from Obama apologists. n/t

[Cha]

8. Obama is our President..we

don't have to apologize.

[JBoris]

2. Another misleading "gotcha" headline

So the current administration is looking to kill a lawsuit seeking email archives that never existed, and that is "siding with Bush"? GET REAL.

[avaistheone1]

3. Isn't that what Karl Rove is saying "The emails never existed"

and you believe him, right?!!

:rofl:

[JBoris]

5. The EMAILS existed, the ARCHIVES don't! Again, GET REAL! nt

[biopowertoday]

15. the suit is asking HOW they went missing, wants an investigation into this. you get real.

[gcomeau]

4. Sigh...

Now, is this actually a case of "Obama administration trying to kill lawsuit"? As in they are taking a specific policy position against those e-mails being subject to release?

Or is this a case of "Members of the Justice department are serving as defense counsel for government employees when they were sued"? WHICH IS THEIR GODDAMN JOB.

Why do I suspect it is the latter? And why do I suspect the people who began spreading this story damn well know it but are taking any excuse they can to try to undermine the Obama administration by tying them to Bush policies at any opportunity? and why do I suspect people here will just keep helping them do it by reposting their bullshit because they can't kick the "we should be outraged at everything that is happening in the government!!!" habit they've developed over the last 8 years so any time they see a story like that they react by reporting the thing by gut level instinct.

My money would be on the Obama people getting around to dealing this in the next month or two, and deciding to release the e-mails... which will make the lawsuit go away which will mean the justice department no longer has to serve as defense counsel in the case and magically the "Obama administration" will no longer be "taking Bush's side" on the issue.

[liberalsince1968]

9. Since when is it the job of the Justice Department to COVER UP lawbreaking

Or is this a case of "Members of the Justice department are serving as defense counsel for government employees when they were sued"? WHICH IS THEIR GODDAMN JOB.

by the White House? It is the job of the Justice Department to INVESTIGATE it and bring the lawbreakers to JUSTICE.

And if Obama doesn't do this, then he is just as guilty as Bush. And so far, the silence has been deafening.

[JBoris]

11. You've gone and thought yourself into a circle, lib68

The lawbreakers are no longer in office, it was bush's cover-up (destroying of records) not Obama's.
Do you honestly think Obama would cover for bush, if evidence of lawbreaking was discovered? Do you really think he would be able to, with all the Dems (WH employees) who would have to be conspire with Obama?

The Emails are long gone. Obama didn't destroy them. Go direct your outrage towards people who earned it.

[liberalsince1968]

12. Take your own advice.

[JBoris]

13. LOL, you're not very good at this. nt

[liberalsince1968]

17. I'm very good at pointing out things that Obama apologists can't defend.

[JBoris]

18. LOL! You truly are delusional. Welcome to my ignore list. nt

[tuvor]

6. Pasting a comment from the Raw Story link...

All right Raw Story, What proof have you offered to support this claim? The only thing I see is 'They expressed disappointment that Obama's Justice Department is continuing the Bush administration's bid to get the lawsuits dismissed' Who is "They" and what proof have "They" offered?

Since you pasted a nearly identical AP article under your own "scoop", I assume your only source is AP.

Well we all know the AP has been the tank for Conservatives for awhile now. I don't take anything they say as truth. Are these Bush holdovers at Justice? We need more in-depth reporting if you are going to make such claims.

http://www.haloscan.com/comments/rawstory/14491/#920155

[emulatorloo]

7. I take Raw Story's headlines with a big grain of salt

They can be sensationalistic and misleading sometimes. They need to sell ads.

[tuvor]

10. Good to know. I don't go there very much.

But I will keep that in mind next time I do.

Thanks.

[uponit7771]

14. ANOTHER KNEE JERK THREAD!!!

[biopowertoday]

16. so do you care about the Plame case anymore??

[struggle4progress]

19. Here's what happened: In mid-January, Judge Kennedy finally lost

patience and ordered the Bush White House to find, save, and produce the emails. As usual, the Bush White House said FU! and claimed the judge had no authority; in keeping with this claim, the lawyers prepared a motion to dismiss, which was filed on 21 January, Obama's first full day in office

My sympathies lie entirely with CREW and the National Security Archive in this case, but it would have been politically idiotic for Obama to reach down into an ongoing court case on his first day in office to pick a fight with the prior administration, if he wants to portray himself as a bipartisan spirit and wants a non-politicized Justice Department. The outgoing Administration defied a lawful court order, and probably irritated the judge by doing that, so I'd expect denial of the motion to dismiss and eventual success for the plaintiffs


White House office ordered to search for e-mail messages
Jan 14, 2009
A federal judge today ordered officials of the Executive Office of the President (EOP) to search the workstations of people who worked in that office from March 2003 through October 2005 for millions of e-mail messages that two groups suing the White House allege were lost during that time period. Judge Henry Kennedy of United States District Court for the District of Columbia also ordered officials of that office to collect and preserve any e-mail messages that were sent or received during that period. EOP officials are also to collect from the office's employees any electronic media that may contain e-mail messages from that time and preserve them. The order comes just days before the inauguration, when presidential documents are to be handed over to the National Archives for safekeeping to comply with the Presidential Records Act ...
http://fcw.com/articles/2009/01/14/white-house-email-order.aspx

White House opposes court order in e-mail case
Posted 1/17/2009 1:23 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Bush administration is aggressively pushing back against a federal court order instructing the most important offices in the White House to preserve all of their e-mail. In court papers late Friday, the administration argued that a federal court has no authority to impose such a requirement on the offices of President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and the National Security Council ...
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-01-17-white-house_N.htm

E-mail case continues with Obama
By Ben Bain
Feb 23, 2009
The legal battle over the Bush administration’s alleged failure to archive millions of e-mail messages has spilled over into the Obama administration, as the Justice Department continues to argue that the ongoing litigation should be dismissed. The Justice Department, which represents the current presidential administration in court, filed a motion to dismiss the court case against the Executive Office of the President the day after the presidential inauguration, Jan. 21, on the grounds that the administration’s e-mail restore recovery efforts has been sufficient ... http://fcw.com/articles/2009/02/23/bush-email.aspx