Why Didn't Libby Alter His Notes

by emptywheel

Larisa has reported and Steve Clemons has confirmed that Rove is cooperating in some manner with Fitzgerald's investigation, and that cooperation somehow points to Dick's office. From Larisa:

According to one source close to the case, Rove is providing information on deleted emails, erased hard drives and other types of obstruction by staff and other officials in the Vice President's office. Pentagon sources close to Rove confirmed this account.

None would name the staffers and/or officials whom Rove is providing information about. They did, however, explain that the White House computer system has "real time backup" servers and that while emails were deleted from computers, they were still retrievable from the backup system. By providing the dates and recipient information of the deleted emails, sources say, Rove was able to chart a path for Fitzgerald directly into the office of the Vice President.

Note neither Larisa nor Clemons say this points directly at Dick yet. Which is just as well, because he's more of the "shoot someone who's standing behind you" type anyway.

Now the suggestion is that the missing emails incriminate OVP in some way. But we know from Fitzgerald that there were emails missing from both OVP and EOP:

"In an abundance of caution," Fitzgerald's January 23 letter to Libby's defense team states, "we advise you that we have learned that not all email of the Office of the 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."

So are we to believe that Dick and Libby skimmed off emails at both the OVP and EOP?

As I suggest in my post analyzing the costs and benefits of evidence tampering, I've always believed Rove was most closely connected with evidence tampering, not Libby. Rove, after all, is the guy who dug up an email to Hadley and an email to Adam Levine to bolster his case, after not finding them when Gonzales was skimming evidence early in the case.

But perhaps I'm wrong. That would explain why Rove's team would willingly hand over an email, in Fall 2004, that basically clued Fitzgerald in to the news that a bunch of emails had been destroyed. And it would explain what Rove has been doing since the indictment, explaining away the mysterious disappearing and reappearing emails, and in the process getting Libby deeper and deeper in trouble.

There's just one thing that doesn't make sense with that scenario.

Deleted emails are hard to hide. To do it right (which doesn't appear to be what happened), you've got to delete them off your computer (in both OVP and EOP) and delete them off the server and from the backup files. Now perhaps these emails are so incriminating ("Hey, Turdblossom, let's out a spy and in the process roll up our best counter-proliferation network in Iran! Yeah, that sounds like fun!") that they had to delete them in spite of the risk. Or maybe they just figured Ashcroft would make sure the investigation never got close to the missing emails.

But altering handwritten notes is easy. At the very least, you can copy over an entire notebook if it matters enough.

And, from the look of things, Scooter Libby did not do these easy things to alter the very incriminating information in his notes. Already in Fall 2003, when Ashcroft was still in charge of the investigation, Scooter Libby had had to admit to the FBI that Dick Cheney first told him of Plame's identity, because that's what his notes said.

Why would Libby--or anyone else in OVP--go to the trouble of altering emails if they were already handing over evidence that directly implicated Dick?

Meanwhile, there is significant reason to believe that Rove altered other evidence, at least the phone logs coming into the White House, to hide the call he had with Cooper.

So I'm not sure Rove has necessarily flipped. At least not truthfully. Rather, I suspect he has invented a story about the missing emails that implicates OVP in an attempt to hide his own (or someone else's) evidence tampering. Just keep talking, Turdblossom. Patrick Fitzgerald may well have an entire closet to store your lies in, until the time he takes them out and uses them in an indictment.

Comments

[p.lukasiak]

My theory at this point is that Karl has actually copped a plea --- FitzG had him dead to rights, but Karl pleaded "national security" to keep the plea sealed while the White House is reorganized.

[mainsailset]

Questions I have. In order for Rove to rat on Cheney's office, he had to have knowledge that #1 the emails existed & #2 how they were stored. As well, the question of when did the emails "leave the building". The assumption is that they were deleted overnight during the window of opportunity that Gonzales gave the WH. That meant a cleaning crew consisting of the band of thieves and their computer wizards had to work, probably overnight, to find & scrub the offending missives. Interestingly, the issue of Rove directing (I'm still cynical about that particular tie) Fitz to the emails, there actually being emails, leads me to think that the very operation of their coverup weighs towards not simply obstruction but back to the original charge of conspiracy to out Valerie Plame/Joe Wilson. The same band who concocted the mess was in on the cleanup, otherwise the emails couldn't have been identified and then scurbbed.

[emptywheel]

mainsailset

j-bob over at FDL pointed out that Card was the one who got the 11-hour notice on the investigation. Further, he is in the position to coordinate things between different corners of the Administration. So perhaps Rove ratted him out?

[mainsailset]

Amazing what these guys can remember when they're not falling back on the "I was too busy to remember all the details of my day" shit, eh?
So I take it you don't think that Rove by outting the emails, working in concert with the cabal to disappear the emails, added another link to the chain of of conspiracy? (gotta find a new word besides conspiracy, this WH has overworked the word)

[Gridlock]

Isn't it funny that certain SAOs stay a mile away from email?

I hope W has wired the Oval Office up. Nixon really helped with that one..

[William Ockham]

I still believe there is a simple explanation for what's going on. First, despite the leaks from Rove's camp, the evidence to date doesn't really suggest a concerted effort to alter evidence. If that's what happened, I think Fitzgerald's communications with the Court would have been much different. If Libby was aware of or involved in an effort to hide evidence that would go directly to the heart of the obstruction case. Here's what I think happened:

People delete email all the time. When the order came down to turn over everything relating to Wilson/Plame, individuals turned over what they had. However, the techies who searched the email backup system didn't do a very good job. Lots of relevant emails didn't get turned over. In some cases, one party to an email communication turned over a copy and the other parties didn't. As more information comes to light in the course of the investigation, emails that didn't seem particularly relevant are now critical to determining what happened. I would expect a slimeball like Rove would keep all the best potential smear material on everybody in no place other than his head (his ability to maintain this stuff in his head is legendary). In his on-going efforts to wriggle off the hook, he's "remembering" just enough to point Fitzgerald in the right direction.

[Jeff]

One difficulty in crediting much of the recent story is the fact that on January 23, Fitzgerald stated in his letter to Libby's defense that he was aware of no evidence pertinent to the charges against Libby that had been destroyed. So I can more easily imagine that Rove double-checked all his emails to try to be helpful to Fitzgerald, and led Fitzgerald to the conclusion that the White House had not provided everything, than that Rove knew the emails were damning of OVP. If there's anything to the story, I suspect it's just another effort of Rove's to show he's being cooperative in order to fend off an indictment than Rove pointing the finger at someone else.

[mainsailset]

It was my understanding from Fitz's letter to defense & Emptywheel's post above, that Fitz had become aware that certain emails from the OVP & President's office had not been archived according to the standard operating procedures. From another source it was stated that these 250 emails were stored, not archived, in an entirely separate building, off campus so to speak where they were not available to the original team tasked with reviewing WH missives. It was only in early January when Fitz was tipped off to their existence. His subsequent letter in January was in effect giving notice. Before that time, we are led to assume, there was no mention or inclusion of the emails because Fitz and his team had been obstructed from knowledge of their existence. The emails' very existence changes the posture of Libby's defense as well as the entire WH.

[mainsailset]

Looks like April is shaping up to be an interesting month. Jason Leopold over at Raw Story is reporting that Rove or Hadley or maybe even both are in Fitzgerald's crosshairs for an indictment within the month. Somebody send Fitz some vitamins!

[semiot]

Perhaps, along the lines Jeff suggests, the "250 emails" is a red herring story that Larisa has headed off into the woods in chase of. Note Jason Leopold's fresh post today at truth.org. Jason cites multiple sources, one named (ex-FBI investigator, John C. Eckenrode) who say Fitz is about to pull the trigger on Rove and/or Hadley. The "250 Emails" (why does that remind me of Frank Zappa?) may be more of Rove throwing dust up for the benefit of the dustmen at Fox, etc.

[John Casper]

emptywheel, thanks very much for posting on this. If you are interested or inclined, I am interested in any opinions you have about who is leaking this and why. Mary over at FDL last night offered that it might be Fitzgerald's office trying to "move" Libby?

[emptypockets]

I'm just thinking about Rove's early days planting "bugs" in his own office. Is there any possibility worth considering that, early on before everything unfolded, he could have dummied up some evidence-tampering that he could use later in order to (a) ensure someone else is an easier prosecutorial target or (b) trade on later for some consideration, or both? Your question about why there appear to be deleted emails but not changes in handwritten notes got me thinking about it (since it may be easier to get access to someone's computer than to their notebook (let alone their handwriting)). Am I in over my head, off the deep end?

[emptywheel]

John Casper

The sources on this are interesting--Pentagon. Pentagon got loaded up with OVP lackeys, but I can't think of any TX mafia folks over there.

[mainsailset]

It's being reported that the leaking is coming from FBI via Pentagon. No leaks from Fitzgerald diagnosed but small chance they're coming through his FBI team & contacts. They were, after all, the team that was burned by Rove et al when they didn't find all the emails for Fitz's case.

[Mimikatz]

What is the significance of Andy Card leaving now? He has been reported eager to leave for awhile. One theory was that Bush couldn't be without both him and Rove, so he couldn't leave while Rove was under a cloud; this would mean Rove knows he won't be indicted. Another possibility is that it is Card who is going to be indicted, for evidence-tampering, probably.

I don't trust any of them, and there is no honor among thieves. Still, it is hard to choose whether I'd rather see Addington or even Deadeye Dick go or Rove. I'm inclined to think the Republic is more in danger from the former. Rove can be defeated in an election if the Dems get their act together, but Cheney is set in stone.

[Rayne]

mimikatz -- I think the timing of Card's departure has been manipulated, but not necessarily for Rove's benefit. If anything it's for Bush's benefit since the entire premise of Bolten coming on board is to improve Bush's approval rating. They've had weeks to lay groundwork, knowing that Card was going to leave, to put out both sticks and carrots. Sticks, in the form of Laura "Winger-witch-on-wheels" Ingraham appearing on Today Show to bash the media for not covering The Good News! in Iraq [TM], and carrots, in the form of off-the-record discussion sessions with Bush and select reporters/media outlets.

Ockham -- there are simpler razors here. Like "accidentally" deleting an entire month's email through a "bad" backup...simple, but not fool-proof, since the system surely has built-in redundancies that make it as hard as lopping off the heads of a Hydra to kill any specific email. A single "accident" in the absence of persistent and systemic "accidents" doesn't look like one, capice?

[orionATL]

mimikatz

asks my question.

is it coincidence that this info about the discovery of the missing e-mails

shows up as andrew card is resigning?

and yes e'wheel

why would the info come from the pentagon ("according to several pentagon sources close to Rove..." - raw story)

maybe rove and some generals at the pentagon are up to a palace revolt of sorts to undermine cheney/rumsfeld because of what their little adventure in iraq has done to the u.s. military and the bush presidency.

maybe cheney is on his way out too. then the presdient could say he was mislead, it was all cheny's doing, and bring the troops home fast.

not likely, huh?

[John Casper]

Beyond what ew, commented about Rove ratting him out, my speculation about Card's leaving is informed only by the apparent fact that he "isn't going anywhere." This suggests urgency on someone's part, because Andy didn't have time to open an appropriate occupational parachute. This could mean that Andy really initiated his own departure, because he figured it's time to "abandon ship." NYT's used quotes that scapegoated Andy for Medicare, Katrina, and Dubai Ports. IMO this would support ew's suspicion that Rove ratted him out and wants to hang as many failures on Andy as he can. It was rumored that Card wanted Snow's Treasury job, so Snow must be breathing a big sigh of relief.

[orionATL]

hop on over to talk left and read geraldine's post.

"if raw story's report is accurate, obstruction of justice charges are not far away."

[William Ockham]

I'll remind folks here of a few facts that we've discussed before. The EOP and OVP use Lotus Notes for internal email. There is a automated archiving solution that is designed to copy all emails to to another (non-Notes-based) system maintained by the National Archives. We know that in the past (Clinton administration) the archiving solution had numerous problems. This was all described in a fairly comprehensive GAO report that I have linked to in the past (I'll dig out the link again if anybody wants to read it). In my professional judgment (and I'm a software application architect when I'm not impersonating a long-dead theologian), the archiving solution was poorly designed and seriously underfunded. I've been unable to discover any evidence that the most systemic problems uncovered by the GAO report have ever been addressed.

With that as background, I'd just like to point out that the opportunities for emails to get "lost" are myriad while completely destroying evidence of particular emails is extremely difficult. Suppose for a minute you are a member of the Cabal and there is an incriminating email that you would like to have "disappeared". Let's take the simplest case, you sent the email to one person in the White House. First, you and the recipient have to trust each other and agree to "forget" about the email. Next, you have to eliminate all traces of the email from both personal computers, the email server(s), the archiving system, any hard copies that were produced, and, if it was copied to your Blackberry, your Blackberry and the recipient's Blackberry (not to mention having to worry about RIM getting subpoenaed). If you sent the email to more people, especially anyone outside the WH, the problem is even larger.

Now, I'm not suggesting that it is impossible that someone may have noticed that certain emails got lost and chose to be forgetful about them, but to base your defense strategy around that seems a bit risky.

[p.lukasiak]

on January 23, Fitzgerald stated in his letter to Libby's defense that he was aware of no evidence pertinent to the charges against Libby that had been destroyed.

On Jan 23, FitzG was telling Libby's team that it knew that not everything had been turned over. Fitz G. didn't have the emails in its possession at that point apparently -- and thus didn't know if there was anything "pertinent" to the specific "charges" against Libby as of that date.

Re : Pentagon sourcing....this is speculative, but it would certainly make sense that the DoD have some means of backing up stuff from the white house in case of a "national emergency".....

[Jeff]

On Jan 23, FitzG was telling Libby's team that it knew that not everything had been turned over. Fitz G. didn't have the emails in its possession at that point apparently -- and thus didn't know if there was anything "pertinent" to the specific "charges" against Libby as of that date.

Right, so much of Rawstory's story has to go out the window, and all we are left with is the idea that Rove indicated to Fitzgerald that, perhaps thanks to the exhaustive search of emails Luskin was reported to have undertaken and his comparison with the stacks handed over to Fitzgerald, he could tell that Fitzgerald hadn't gotten everything from the White House. Here's the question. What's the timeline of events, on your rendition of what this is about? When did Rove tell Fitzgerald about the missing emails, and what did he tell him about them? From there, we can pick it up: Fitzgerald announces to Libby's defense on January 23 that there are some emails not archived properly (but on your account at that point Fitzgerald has no way of knowing whether there's anything damning in them - or damning of Libby anyway), this info is made public by a Libby filing on January 31, and on February 6 the White House hands over 250 pages of emails to Fitzgerald.

[mainsailset]

What's getting overlooked here is that Fitz has more than one source on this. Rove may arrogantly think he's leading Fitz around by the nose but there's another source, the one who relayed messages back through the FBI to Fitz of where the emails were archived. Don't forget, the FBI took the hard drives on the computers. The insanity of trying to eradicate email histories of the magnitude of 250 emails and their interconnections in what must have been a brief time period is hard to imagine. I seem to remember that Rove/Luskin "found" Rove's missing email when they discovered that they hadn't put in enough of a description for the search engine. Regardless, it seems, in my humble opinion, unlikely that Rove would take the chance of leading Fitz to the missing emails as he would simply be opening up a Pandora's box of more info that could expand his own part in this. Just doesn't work for me.

[emptywheel]

I think I'm kind of agreeing with many points you folks are raising:

1) Rove cannot be innocent in this matter. If an email between him and Hadley disappeared, then both he and Hadley would be complicit to hiding it.

2) Any further "cooperation" with Fitz is just going to dig the hole deeper. That is, unless you come clean--completely clean--then it's not going to buy you anything. And the only way Rove would have come completely clean is if he made a plea deal, but he wouldn't do THAT because it would force him to step down/stop pursuing his permanent Republican majority.

I'm frankly unconvinced by any explanation I've heard about the Pentagon sources (sorry Jeff). I just don't see anyway how anyone at DOD would have an inside track to what Rove is doing. Even the national emergency thing wouldn't work, bc it wouldn't explain the claims of cooperation.

[Jeff]

ew - Are you expressing sorrow to me because I can imagine a stripped-down version of the story? I don't think I've offered any explanation about the Pentagon sources. And I am more impressed by Clemons and his source than Rawstory's Pentagon sources. So I'm confused.