Annul & A Void

Nobody knows anything, and they resent the implication that they do.

The White House now says it recorded over back up tapes for Bush Administration email . As many as five million messages the Administration once said are missing, but now claim are in limbo, may be lost. They cover interesting days in 2001-2003.

Theresa Payton, chief information officer in the White House’s office of administration “said the White House is unable to say how many, if any, e-mails are missing from its servers. This contradicts admissions from White House officials that e-mails were missing for that time frame,”the Austin American-Statesman reports.

“The White House seems to be changing its story,” said Meredith Fuchs, general counsel at the National Security Archive, which is suing over the papers. “First, the White House acknowledged missing millions of e-mails. Now, the White House says that it has undertaken “an independent effort determine if there may be anomalies” during that time period, Fuchs said.

The White House remains confident that it don’t have to give up nothin.

“There is no basis to say that the White House has destroyed any evidence or engaged in any misconduct,” said spokesman Tony Fratto.

Notice he says only that they have not destroyed “evidence.”

And now this:

Schedule Hearings Investigations Legislation Chronology Subcommittees Minority Office

Thursday, January 17, 2008
Administration Oversight

Chairman Waxman Schedules Hearing to Examine Preservation of White House E-mails

On February 15, the Committee will hold a hearing to investigate White House compliance with the Presidential Records Act. Statements made at the January 17 White House press briefing contradict information provided to the Committee, which revealed that a 2005 White House analysis found no archived mail for hundreds of days between 2003 and 2005.

The following officials have been invited to testify:

• • Fred Fielding, Counsel to the President
  • Alan Swendiman, Director, Office of Administration
  • Allen Weinstein, Archivist of the United States

Documents and Links

• Letter to Fred Fielding (155 KB)
• Letter to Allen Weinstein (101 KB)