White House Claims Executive Privillege on RNC Servers & E-mail

[debbierlus]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/13/washington/13emails.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Quote from the article:

Mr. Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, issued a tart reply: “The White House position seems to be that executive privilege not only applies in the Oval Office, but to the R.N.C. as well. There is absolutely no basis in law or fact for such a claim.”

[bdamomma]

1. oh this has to stop now, they should just arrest them all.

[Robbien]

2. White House = RNC = White House

We exist in a one party state. We just weren't supposed to know.

[paparush]

3. This Just in: White House to Park the Moon bus on the SCOTUS steps

and pray for a miracle.

BUSH_ROVE DON'T HAVE A LEG TO STAND ON.

[skooooo]

4. they can't erase email....

There is no excuse. They need to get those computers and have someone dig that shit up!

[debbierlus]

5. And, here's a question - if the e-mails are 'lost'

Why do they have to claim executive privillege, so they can't be viewed?

[BOSSHOG]

13. Similarly

tony snow and dan bartlett said that bush didn't talk to anyone about the firings of U. S. Attorneys but those non-conversations had to be protected by executive privilege. The Three Fucking Stooges are running our country.

[debbierlus]

22. Exactly

Dead on.

[Hepburn]

25. Excellent question!

If something does NOT exist anymore....why claim a privilege in regard to it? Says to me the stuff exists and the claim is it lost is just a way to try and buy time.

[bdamomma]

28. definitely again they are covering up their vicious crimes.

[ClassWarrior]

6. This is it. The Rape-Publicans have jumped the shark.

Thank you Mr. Conyers!

NGU.

[whistle]

7. That is the worst excuse for obstruction of justice and evidence tampering

...that they could possibly make. These children need to be removed from power. Impeach Bush/Cheney now

[blogslut]

8. Executive Privilege = Coverup

Everything old is new again.

[MessiahRp]

9. Subpoena the fuckers and watch them burn in court

A quote just popped into my head:

"I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure"

Take them on and watch them burn as they try to prove in court that they are above the law.

Rp

[debbierlus]

10. Talking about it on Sam Seder

Joe Connason saying the FBI could (and should) seize the servers immediately, & talking about how they continued to delete e-mails after Fitz SPECIFICALLY TOLD THEM NOT TO....

This is going to be HUGE. Even, if they don't ever see the e-mails, the cover-up is going to destroy them.

:nuke:

[Atman]

17. Nothing destroys them. They have the media on their side.

We'll have more Imuses, more missing blonds, more fires in California, but nothing is ever going to happen to these assholes. They're just running out the shot clock. They make one quick move, pass or shot just as the buzzer is about to go off, and start the clock ticking all over again. But make no mistake...the strategy is just to run it out.

.

[dogday]

11. White House claims so much privilege, it should just

proclaim Bush Imperial Leader... This has got to stop.... Privilege cannot be applied to a political organization.....

[ET Awful]

12. Note to White House - You can't have it both ways . . .

either you claim executive privilege forr the RNC e-mails, and thus any deletion of those records is a violation of the laws governing records preservation, or they do not fall under executive privilege and are not subject to records preservation laws.

You're painting yourself into a corner fellas.

[debbierlus]

16. They are desperate, all they are doing now is buying time

They choose to go along with not complying with the President Record's Act because the other stuff is FAR more incriminating. And, it keeps people from understanding the deeper issues....

Run, cowards, run.

Pathetic

[HereSince1628]

14. Conyers doesn't understand the extent of the Unitary Executive

as viewed by Cheney and the Pretorian guard.

I suspect they'll still be arguing about handing over these emails in 2009.

[malaise]

15. Nixon Version 2.00 coming up

I M P E A C H!!

[Hubert Flottz]

18. Bush could...

Plead Insanity!

[jojo54]

19. CAN these email be "erased"?

I thought the server had to be totally replaced. And if that's the case, the HW's come into play....how, who, what, where, when?

Is this a prosecutable offense beings the congress specifically asked for these emails and they just happened :sarcasm: to dissapear?

[KharmaTrain]

20. Running Out The Clock...

These goons know that by claiming Executive privilidge on their party servers that it's not gonna stand up in court. However, the game here is to play Conyer's bluff and hope there's a court battle that will be tied up in the courts for at least a year or longer...hoping that the election will get so loud next year that no one will remember or care about the USA scandal or the missing emails...or to stall this even further...past 1/20/09 and then sneak out of town while the country "moves on".

Hopefuly Chairmen Conyers, Waxman and Leahey will be aggressive on this issue...pushing to get this thing into court fast and resolved. I can't see how a court will protect party or third party servers to purposely avoid the Hatch Act.

[debbierlus]

21. The Truth is Out There....

Que X-files music - per Sam Seder....

Turn on Sam Seder - really good ideas - telling to subpeona the tech experts....Brilliant stuff.

[jojo54]

23. What channel/station? Thx.

[debbierlus]

27. Air America

airamericaradio.com

[formercia]

24. What F*cking HUBRIS. n/t

[The Backlash Cometh]

26. Oh, this is cherry.

[mikelgb]

29. HA HA!

I knew they would attempts to pull out their executive privilege card....It's everywhere you want to be.

[jobendorfer]

30. perhaps a lawyer could comment

It occurs to me that in a legal standoff between Congress and the *RNC*
over the subpoenaed e-mails, the *White House* might not have
legal standing in the case. The RNC owns and operates the servers,
not the executive branch.

John

[sofa king]

31. Not gonna wooooork.

If they had obeyed the law by following the Presidential Records Act, then they might have had a shot at throwing the blanket of executive privilege over the emails. But probably not, since Republican lawyers shot that defense full of holes while rooting through Vice President Al Gore's emails back in the era of peace and prosperity.

Then again, if they hadn't been using those illegal private email accounts to pursue other illegal activity they wouldn't have to pull the executive privilege shenanigans at all. That is why they are both losing them and refusing to turn them over at the same time.

As I have said elsewhere, this one's going to bite them in the ass, hard. They're not lost, and they can't get rid of all of them. There are thousands of pissed-off IT professionals who know just where to look, not to mention the greedy, amoral criminals who comprise the GOP's operational staff who will soon realize that the path to power in the GOP will be through the incrimination of those in power now.

If they refuse to come clean, any reasonably clever blackmailer will be in a position to hold those emails over the GOP for decades, because at this point I'm sure many of the crimes they've committed will have no statute of limitations.

If they do come clean, well, there's still no statute of limitations. I may yet live to see the day when every last one of these bastards is finishing out their lives in prison.

[sutz12]

32. The 5th Amendment Administration... nt