More "hidden scandal" reports

[BobcatJH]

I suppose the "hidden scandal" will soon be not-so-hidden. Here's the latest:

• Daily Kos: Karl Rove and GWB43.com - Huge National Security Threat? (March 24)

• About: U.S. Politics: Current Events: GWB43.com, AttorneyGate and Federal Records Requirements (March 24)

• CREW: Do White House staffers comply with federal law when they communicate with other agencies of the government? (March 26)

• truthout: White House Use of Outside Email Accounts Questioned (March 26)

Emails released by the Department of Justice over the past two weeks in conjunction with a Congressional investigation into the firings of eight US attorneys show that White House officials have communicated with DOJ staffers about the attorney purge, using email accounts maintained by the Republican National Committee in possible violation of the Presidential Records Act.

Using alternative email accounts also creates the appearance of impropriety, lawmakers charged Monday, because it allows White House officials to avoid the usual archival process and the automatic paper trail that is established when they use White House email servers to conduct business. Emails sent through the RNC server can be destroyed.

• Providence Journal: Subterranean Homepage News: gwb43.com: Parallel White House email system? (March 26)

• Washington Post: GOP Groups Told to Keep Bush Officials' E-Mails (March 27)

• Providence Journal: Backchannel for WH emails draws House scrutiny (March 27)

• ePluribus Media: The GOP, GeorgeWBush.com and the line that jumped the Congressional Firewall (March 27)

• USNews: E-mail Controversy Prompts Many Aides To Stop Usage (March 27)

But just a week after E-mails in the U.S. attorneys case became a main focus of congressional Democrats probing the firings, several aides said that they stopped using the White House system except for purely professional correspondence.

"We just got a bit lazy," said one aide. "We knew E-mails could be subpoenaed. We saw that with the Clintons but I don't think anybody saw that we were doing anything wrong."

But the release of White House emails to the Democrats and the expanded request for more from Rep. Henry Waxman has iced the system. At least two aides said that they have subsequently bought their own private E-mail system through a cellular phone or Blackberry server. When asked how he communicated, one aide pulled out a new personal cellphone and said, "texting."

• CREW: Crew Asks White House To Explain Repeated Violations of Presidential Records Act (March 28)

Melanie Sloan, CREW's executive director, said, "It appears that White House staff members routinely violated the law by using RNC email accounts for official business. The public deserves to know how the White House explains this end-run around the law." Sloan continued, "Congress passed the PRA to make clear that White House records belong to the American people; this administration is prioritizing legacy over legality."

• Talking Points Memo: There's your answer (March 28)

But as we noted earlier with Karl Rove, this may have been too clever by half. If the president's aides were using RNC emails or emails from other Republican political committees, they can't have even the vaguest claim to shielding those communications behind executive privilege.

• Dan Froomkin (Washington Post): White House E-Mails (scroll down) (March 28)

• War and Piece: Outside email at the White House (March 28)

A reader who has a security role at a federal agency writes, "On the issue of using outside/unofficial e-mail address from official sites, the CIO at (redacted) has expressly forbade the practice for security reasons as it is all too easy to put sensitive information in an e-mail. ... Needless to say, hearing that the WH does not mandate that practice and lets (Rove) do 95% of his e-mailing from a blackberry, presumably with access to an unofficial address, is quite shocking. Still find it absolutely amazing that his clearance has not been revoked."

• Daily Kos: The White House's impending email security disaster (March 28)

Previously: Your weekend "hidden scandal" homework

[MissMarple]

1. So many ways to say, "It's all in the cover up."

"Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive."

I'm sure Karl is still in denial thinking nothing will happen because he "owns" the government. Ah huh, until too many of the complicit start to go down. They will all be toast, too many people know as it appears from some of your links.

[unlawflcombatnt]

2. Thanks, Kick & Recommend

Thanks for doing so much research. It was very interesting.

:kick:

[johnnydrama]

3. it's funny

It's like they realized early on that everything they're going to be doing would be illegal, so they decided to begin the coverup before they even started doing anything.

[burythehatchet]

4. they did 9/11