News+and+politics religion philosophy the cynic librarian: Update on Cheney Erased Emails

Thursday, February 02, 2006

Update on Cheney Erased Emails

Following up on the story about VP Cheney's office erasing Plame-related emails, Media Matters reports on the mainstream media's general silence on the story. CNN's Blitzer, however...

Quoting CNN's Wolf Blitzer's interview with Jeffrey Toobin on the story, Media writes:

BLITZER: Potentially, Jeff, how significant or insignificant is this development?

TOOBIN: Well, I think you have to say it raises questions. Why were these documents destroyed outside the normal course? Who knew about it? Who ordered it? What kind of documents were there? All these questions may have entirely innocent answers, but we don't know what any of the answers are at this point.

BLITZER: Because when I hear a story like this, it hearkens back -- I mean, I just remember, of course, some of those missing tapes during Watergate and the Nixon White House that evidence may have been destroyed, and this may be totally, totally overreaching. There may be a simple explanation. But the fact that the prosecutor writes this letter saying what happened to this -- these e-mails, that raises certain questions.

TOOBIN: And certainly the Iran-Contra affair was based almost entirely on electronic messages -- so-called prof notes -- sent between Oliver North and colleagues. They have been crucial evidence in all White House investigations. What happened to them? A lot of things get destroyed in the normal course of business. Why were the normal procedures not followed? As you point out, could be completely innocent. But, we just don't know.

BLITZER: How normal is it for e-mail to be destroyed in the normal course of business over at the White House? A question I don't have the answer to, but presumably, the special prosecutor is going to be looking into that question right now.


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