We Were Lost But Now Are Found

Per yesterday's court action in the Plame drama, the White House has recently turned over to Special Counsel Fitzgerald 250 emails from the Office of Vice President Dick Cheney.

The reliably exuberant Jason Leopold keeps hope alive:

The White House turned over last week 250 pages of emails from Vice President Dick Cheney’s office. Senior aides had sent the emails in the spring of 2003 related to the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald revealed during a federal court hearing Friday.

    The emails are said to be explosive, and may prove that Cheney played an active role in the effort to discredit Plame Wilson’s husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, a vocal critic of the Bush administration’s prewar Iraq intelligence, sources close to the investigation said.

    Sources close to the probe said the White House “discovered” the emails two weeks ago and turned them over to Fitzgerald last week. The sources added that the emails could prove that Cheney lied to FBI investigators when he was interviewed about the leak in early 2004. Cheney said that he was unaware of any effort to discredit Wilson or unmask his wife’s undercover status to reporters.

The emails "could prove that Cheney lied to FBI investigators"!  Others have speculated that the emails may finally answer the questions about Area 51, place Arlen Specter on the Grassy Knoll, and refute Howard Dean's claim to be King of the Leprechauns.

Raw Story was restrained by comparison.

For myself, my understanding is that the preservation of White House emails is governed by statute; my guess is that the archival activity is handled by techies operating independently of the politicos, and that these emails were misplaced as the result of a systems hiccup (OK, the technical term is "glitch").

But they would say that, wouldn't they!?!

Feel free to leave informed speculation in the comments, or hit the trackback.  And since it's the weekend, wild, over the top speculation is welcome as well.

UPDATE:  Neither the Times nor the WaPo mention this at all; here is the full AP coverage:

The defense was told that the White House had recently located and turned over about 250 pages of e-mails from the vice president's office. Fitzgerald, in a letter last month to the defense, had cautioned Libby's lawyers that some e-mails might be missing because the White House's archiving system had failed.

Let's flash back to Feb 2, as we kicked around the correspondence between Fitzgerald and Libby's legal team.  This was the passage from Fitzgerald that launched a thousand posts:

"We are aware of no evidence pertinent to the charges against defendant Libby which has been destroyed," Fitzgerald wrote in a letter to the defense team.

But the prosecutor added: "In an abundance of caution, we advise you that we have learned that not all e-mail of the Office of Vice President and the Executive Office of the President for certain time periods in 2003 was preserved through the normal archiving process on the White House computer system."

That was not clear then, and it is still not clear, just as it is far from clear just when it was that these new emails were delivered to Fitzgerald.

The banal, benign explanation - Fitzgerald was simply advising the defense that the archival system had some bugs; he based that on his recent but belated receipt of 250 emails, which has now been announced.

The pulse-pounding alternative - after reading this hint that something was amiss, the archivists produced, as if by magic, 250 heretofore unknown emails.  And who knew, other than Harry Whittington?

The fact the the MSM is ignoring this may be the best reason to look more closely.  Even a few more facts would be helpful.

 

Comments

[Jeff]

TM - I wonder whether the discovery of the emails happened before or after Fitzgerald observed in his letter that not all emails were preserved according to the normal archiving process. If after, are we really supposed to believe that those two things are unconnected? Well, maybe, I suppose, if there have been an ongoing cascade of newly discovered emails, of which this is just the latest. If this is a genuinely new development, and it happened after Fitzgerald's observation, the tech glitch explanation becomes less plausible.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

Ol' Jason rises from the ashes again! Some career path.

[Jeff]

TM - Also, it doesn't really make sense to gain undeserved credibility for your own take on it by way of contrast with the even harder-to-believe take from Leopold. Why not just give us the news and your take on it? Why the detour by way of Leopold?

[narexbyrnes]

Okay, here is some "wild" speculation. Funny that they were found ... last week. Now what happened last week? Something about the VP shooting a man in the face? But TM is right, nothing to see here ... move along, move along.

[spacemonkey]

The emails could very well contain a map that show the locations of El Dorado, the fountain of youth and Atlantis, as attachments.

[Gary Maxwell]

Whoa that is some wicked shit you are smoking there, narexbyrnes. Do you find your memory is not as good these days and that you can eat whole bags of fritos in seconds?

You could probably catch on as a copy writer for politicians in the Middle East. You know where the punchline to everything bad that happens is " The Israelis are behind this."

Oh yeah one more thing BOO! Sorry if you wet your pants from that. I just could not help myself.

[Dwilkers]

Why don't you go ahead and flesh out your theory for us Jeff. Instead of posting inuendo in every thread I mean.

Something like...the guy that does the archiving used to work for Wittington, Cheney told him to destroy them, he told Wittington, he confronted Cheney, Cheney shot him, and now the e-mail...is showing up anyway. Hey you and narex could write a book. There are still folks selling grassy knoll books after all.

And anyway yeah TM. Why did you write the post the way you did? Please explain to us why you wrote what you did, what you were thinking, and justify who you quoted and why. Because, you know, Raw Story is much more credible than...oh never mind.

[kim]

He sees Cheney collapsing and Rove frogmarching every time I see Joe hanging, and Berger beside him.
=============================================

[clarice]

I think it's some really interesting new super secret law that if a Rep administration responds to lies against by anyone who ever drove in Langley, Va, it is a violation of the part of the IIPA written in invisible ink because it is that hush hush.

[narexbyrnes]

Wow, I think the timing of the emails is suspicious, so I get labeled a dope-smoking, incontinent anti-Semite? Nice. When do I get accused of hating America? Is that next?

[Barney Frank]

Seems to me a more likely scenario might be that Fitzgerald was informed that some e-mails had only recently been found inducing his letter relating to improper archiving.
How else would he even know there were improperly archived e-mails?

Jeff,
Surely you find some guilty pleasure in Pat Buchanan or Pat Robertson or Rush Limbaugh making what you consider some bizarre commentary. Why deprive TM of the same indulgence. It might not have been an attempt to gain credibility for his own position, so much as just a somewhat bemused look at the never ending permutations of BDS, although in this case it would more properly be CDS.

[Shirley Ujest]

Funny those emails always just coincidentally "innocently" appear just after Fitz mentions that some were't archived properly. Funny timing ain't it? Funny how you mention Leopold and his credibility, but before I read him, I also read similar mention of the miraculaous reappearing emails all 250 pages in articles from AP and Forbes mentioning them. Funny ain't it.

Wild speculation for likes of you and your typical readers: Wilson's wife colluded with some of her NSA buddies who were doing the illegal domestic spying and "archiving" all emails in and out of the WH. They found these and presented these "illegally collected emails" to Fitzgerald to use. Shorter version, the illegal spying program Shrub ordered was secretly spying on him and his buddies too....jujitsu. Paranoia will destroya!

[maryrose]

Jeff:
TM I believe provides the contrast in his posting to show you the difference in blatant screeds crying conspiracy and calm reasoned thinking. The contrast is so great and should be noted so those engaged in finding the truth have at least an inkling of the kind of propaganda the Left is willing to engage in to satisfy their BDS fix.

[noah]

"The emails are said to be explosive,"

Is the "said" referring to anything more substansive than the Raw Story article? One BDSer quoting another without attribution no less, the shame of it all.

And then Jeff pipes up with his own uninformed speculation (admittedly encouraged by TM) but then "unaccountably" complains about TM's reference to BDS bullshit.

See what I mean about certain star stuff or is that interstellar vacuum qualitity?

[kim]

Shirley Ujest know that datamining has costs and McCain-Feingold regulates the money to pay those costs without flaw.
==============================================

[kim]

Hey, Narex, Gary was just trying to give you an excuse.

And Surely, co-incidentally I've always thought the P'ya will D'ya chant to be Shiva whistling by the graveyard while building its wall.
===========================

[jerry]

Leopold previously reported that Abu Gonzales had the emails (in a TruthOut article that was picked up by RawStory). It's an interesting story I think.

[PeterUK]

narexbyrnes,
Yes there was also the UAE bid on the terminals,the most sacred mosque in Iraq was bombed,just trawl through the papers,you are bound to come up with the meaning of life,the universe......everything.

[TM]

Also, it doesn't really make sense to gain undeserved credibility for your own take on it by way of contrast with the even harder-to-believe take from Leopold.

Well, I guess "makes sense" depends on the objective. I'll take your point that I am hardly being fair and balanced on this one.

[Cecil Turner]

Leopold previously reported that Abu Gonzales had the emails . . .

Wouldn't surprise me. I got this far in the current article before deciding it was a complete waste of time:

Cheney said he had received an intelligence briefing on the allegations in late December 2003, or early January 2004, and had asked the CIA for more information about the issue.

Two date errors, two years off? [An editor, an editor, my kingdom for an editor.]

[kim]

Well, jerry, what sort of tortured meaning do you have for the emails?
=====================================

[Anonymous Liberal]

This is from a Feb. 3 AP article (click on my name for the link):
,i>Fitzgerald told the judge that he has turned over "99 percent" of the evidence he believes he is obligated to provide to the defense. Last night, he said, he gave 250 pages to the defense. An additional 800 pages were turned over Friday morning, Fitzgerald said.
Could these be the same 250 pages? I have no idea, but if they are, then this is just material requested by Libby's defense team, not mysterious missing emails.

[kim]

Please, CT, go back and read some more. Perhaps, even more egregious errors await your time.
========================================

[Jos Bleau]

### WORLD EXCLUSIVE ###

Memos turned over by Vice President's Office to the Scooter Libby legal defense team reveal that Dick Cheney killed Vince Foster in an alledged 'hunting accident' in 1994. Foster, at the time an aid to President Clinton, was long thought to have commited suicide, although rumors ...

[Gary Maxwell]

A Lib

A rare voice of sanity in a barking moonbat world.

But who knows maybe the Israelis did bomb the Golden dome mosque while doing a test bombing run to Teheran.

[Patton]

"""not all emails were preserved according to the normal archiving process"""

and
not all special prosecutors were appointed according to the normal appointment process

What did Whittington know, and why did Cheney try to shut him up?

If this were the Clinton adminstration, we'd have a morgue team permanent stationed at Fort Marcy Park.

[Patton]

Not only was Whittington a secret agent working with Plame, he also worked in the W.H. Travel Office, was the custodian of Rose Law Firm billing records, personnaly knew John Huang and Johnny Chung, slepted with Susan McDougal (who didn't) and was a prison guard for Webster Hubbell.

[maryrose]

Patton:
Love how you think .That would make Whittingdon a Forrest Gump type of character.

[Jos Bleau]

Whittington's in this a lot deeper than most people realize.

It just so happens that 20 year old Harry Whittington, motoring arround the Southwest during the summer college break, happened to be passing thru a little town called Roswell, New Mexico on June 24th 1947 ....

[PeterUK]

Has anyone seen Whittington and Valerie Plame together,this is the reason Cheney tried to shut him/her up.Plameington obviously had the emails on disc as insurance in case anything happened to him/her.

[clarice]

Now you're just being silly, peter..Whittington is Plame--that's why they kept him under wraps for a week and when he reappeared even the dermablend and pretend bird shot wounds were insufficient to hide the plastic surgery scars.

[Patrick R. Sullivan]

' Why not just give us the news and your take on it? Why the detour by way of Leopold?'

Entertainment value. Especially when Jason himself arrives on the scene to first call us right wing nazis, and then tell us the world of journalism is filled with editors who refuse to work with him a second time.

[Lew Clark]

It gets even worse. According to reliable anonymous sources who may, or may not, be close to the investigation, and may, or may not be able to tie their own shoes without the help of a nurse, 207 of the 250 emails were from Harry Whittington, were sent from a Kinkos in Abilene Texas, and use the 1972 Texas Air National Guard version of Microsoft Word.

[clarice]

Maybe the ADA requires the press to hire a certain number of certificable kooks though it appears they've exceeded the required number by quite a bit.

[PeterUK]

Clarice,
Joe is in for a surprise.

[clarice]

It's for a good cause, peteruk.

[Patton]

narexbyrnes writes:
"""Wow, I think the timing of the emails is suspicious, so I get labeled a dope-smoking, incontinent anti-Semite? Nice. When do I get accused of hating America? Is that next? """""

WELCOME TO THE CLUB, I THOUGHT CLINTON SHOULD WELL REMEMBER RECEIVING ORAL SEX AND SODOMIZING A GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE IN THE OVAL OFFICE AND I WAS LABELLED NUTS FOR OVER A YEAR.

Apparently, Clinton couldn't recall ever being with Lewinsky because there were so many darn interns he was sodomizing he lost track.

Maybe you could actually explain with some factual basis why you find the timing suspicious, or is it that you just allways find misplaced e-mails suspicious??
What is the nexus of your argument that the Whittington shooting and the e-mails have anything to do with each other??

[SteveMG]

Well off topic here but this is a fascinating exhibit on Churchill and his relationship with the Great Republic (that's us) here:

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/churchill/

Terrific interactive exhibition with sound of Churchill's speeches, et cetera.

We are indeed standing on the shoulders of giants.

SMG

[TM]

When do I get accused of hating America? Is that next?

Didn't Karl Rove make it clear that that is the default labeling?

What we have here is a failure to communicate...

[Specter]

Narexbyrnes,

don't you know that if we wanted to deflect something like that we would just come up with another OBL tape. Geez - get in step with the rest of the lefties.

[MTT]

SMG,

OT, yes, but unbelievable.

This might be the coolest interactive web site ever.

Ever.

Really.

Thanks.

[Patton]

Me and the boys here at NSA are working on the next UBL tape right now, in preparation for the Rove indictment. I know it was supposed to be last Christmas and we are a little behind.

Just need to finsh adding all the 'Allah be praised" crapola and a salute to Al Gore.

Ohh, and thank CNN and NYT for not offending my his religion by broadcasting a cartoon.

[clarice]

TM you do know you are way too subtle, don't you?

[topsecretk9]

my guess is that the archival activity is handled by techies operating independently of the politicos,

During Clinton Admin this job was farmed out to an independent contractor, so it's probably a safe bet there are 2 layers of independence here.

[clarice]

I'm certain Cheney did this himself in his sparetime.

[ed]

Hmmm.

Some of you have really lost your minds. I'll check back in a couple weeks to see if sanity has prevailed.

Or not.

[Beto Ochoa]

Actually, the e-mails were found taped to the back of the Rose Law Firm billing records where they had been kept safely until the statute of limitations passed.

[clarice]

HEH Right under Hillary's calculations as to when to buy and sell her cattle futures..

[kim]

Someone else did the calculating, she did the collecting. Isn't that the way it's supposed to be?
========================================

[Bob in Pacifica]

Maybe they just found the emails. You know, they were lost but now are found. Just like Judy Miller found the notes that she couldn't find until she spent some time behind bars. Sometimes people just need some incentive to go back and work a little harder to find those things that they think were lost.