TPM Muckraker

« previous | MUCK HOME | next »

Senate Dems To White House: Preserve Records (Especially You, Cheney)

Democrats from the Senate Intelligence and Judiciary committees last week sent a letter to the White House demanding that it preserve all records produced by the Bush administration. The letter expressed particular concern that the office of Vice President Cheney would not comply with the law.

The letter, sent by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Sen. John D. Rockefeller of West Virginia and Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, asks White House counsel Fred Fielding to detail steps being taken to preserve White House documents and hand them over to the National Archives and Records Administration.

And it asks whether Fielding has investigated a Washington Post report that the White House has kept some presidential orders off it records, in a safe in the office of the vice president's lawyer.

Cheney's office is separately involved in a lawsuit brought by the watchdog group CREW, which is seeking to ensure that all vice presidential records are made available to the public.

The Democrats' letter cites that litigation, noting, "the declarations filed in that case by the Office of the Vice President raise serious concerns about its interpretations of the (Presidential Records Act)."

The law requires all presidential and vice presidential records to be transferred to the National Archives as soon as the president leaves office.


25 Comments

| Leave a comment
user-pic

Don't you know, when it suits Dick, he is not even an employee of the Executive branch of the government? My guess is that little will be left. Perhaps that alone can be used to make the point of how thorougly irresponsible and reprehensible this guy was.

user-pic

Does anyone really believe that Cheney WON'T shred and delete every last record of his existence as vice president?

Come on, this is Darth Cheney we're talking about. He doesn't care what Congress thinks. He doesn't care about court orders. On January 20, the only thing left behind will be paper clips and used kleenex, and maybe a computer keyboard with all the letters missing except the ones needed to spell "GO FUCK YOURSELF."

user-pic

Man, we ALL should have bought stock in document shredding companies back when the Dems got majority rule in '06. Dick -the-dog-ate-my-papers Cheney alone could have made us wealthy...

user-pic

Moreover, lets just watch and see who does and does not come under consideration for AG.

No, it will not be RFK Jr.

No way would he sign off on a hands off position regards war crimes. This one issue is likely to become the sorest point between major Dems in congress and the new admin.

Check out what Andrew Sullivan has to say today regards war crimes.

user-pic

"The law requires all presidential and vice presidential records to be transferred to the National Archives as soon as the president leaves office"

Of course, as we continue our downhill slide, when the folks in power break the law, both sides have decided that consequences no longer apply...

If we no longer prosecute for torture, unlawful wars, outing CIA agents, on and on, why on earth can we expect lesser crimes to have penalties.

The new prisons being built every year will eventually be used to house us commoners and dissidents, not the folks in charge...

user-pic

Don't take away Cheney's files! He is going to need them as he transitions to his new and secure office located deep beneath a Virginia mountain and continues with his long standing pet project Continuity of Government.

user-pic

As long as it's secure enough that the locks are on the outside, I'm okay with that.

user-pic

Make them good sturdy locks, on super steel doors!

and, my guess is, he's been shredding records as he goes!

user-pic

He's heading for Dubai.

user-pic

I'm willing to bet Cheney has seen every James Bond ripoff movie where the villain screams, "come and get me!" while he sets off a nuclear explosion that pulverizes both him and his evil headquarters.

user-pic

This is begninning to sound like an Onion posting.

"Senate Dems issue sternly worded letter to fourth (hidden branch of government)"

user-pic

They need to draw a police line around the whole DC area. (link courtesy John Cole).

user-pic

We may be lucky to find out what happened but as to being held accountable for fraud, lying, cheating and stealing, nothing is going to happen to these people and Obama has already signaled that.

"I would not want my first term consumed by what was perceived on the part of Republicans as a partisan witch hunt, because I think we've got too many problems we've got to solve."

Democrats are too heavily involved in the wrong doing and the coverups to have it expose them as well.

You don't have to be a blind conservative not to see it, just an ignorant one to deny it.

user-pic

Why do they even try? It is starting to be embarrassing. No. It is embarrassing. Spineless bastards them Dems.

user-pic

Starting to be embarrasing? I've been mad at spineless Democrats since 2000.

and don't get me started on the FISA capitulation.

user-pic

Cheney will do whatever he wants because the Dems are too scared to challenge him. I'd love for them to make a surprise move on him right now, but it's not going to happen.

I half believe the conspiracy theories that say Cheney is going to run a shadow foreign policy when he's out of office, using Blackwater and the billions missing from Iraq spending.

Hayden NEEDS to go.

user-pic

I'm picturing an image from the movie 'Tora, Tora, Tora'.

The night before the attack on Pearl Harbor, smoke poured out of the chimney of the Japanese Embassy as they burned all confidential documents.

user-pic

I don't know if you guys realize this, but the committee that Joe Lieberman chairs ("United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs") is in charge of overseeing the National Archives and Records Administration.

Senate Democrats can say whatever they want to the Bush administration, but the likelihood of any consequence for failure to preserve those records is small while Lieberman remains.

user-pic

Zachary --

Was it the "Dems" who ordered it, or was it CONGRESS acting OFFICIALLY?

user-pic

I would bet that all of the interesting documents have been shredded/burned, and all of the incriminating hard drives have been smashed by now. But it's the thought that counts, right?

user-pic

This seems like a fine letter that the Senators sent. But one name seems conspicuous by its absence. The Senate has an oversight committee whose jurisdiction includes the Archives of the United States and "government information." That committee is the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. According to published reports, the Senate Democratic Caucus may consider whether to remove the current chairman of that Committee for supporting the nominee of the other party for president. Did Senators Whitehouse, Leahy, Rockefeller, and Feinstein ask Chairman Joe Lieberman to sign this letter? Did he decline? Or did they simply think it wasn't worth the trouble?

user-pic

As the WH announced they have been preparing for the transition
for the past year, one can only imagine the state of their files and hard drives. Obviously, no one was home!

user-pic

It is most difficult for me to come to terms that nothing legal will be done to convict Bush, Cheney and company for their multitude of corruption and wrong doing. However, it is apparent that all time available will be needed to get our economy back on track first and then proceed with the plans for CHANGE the Obama team has promised for All Americans.

user-pic

They should impound them now before he shreds any more.

user-pic

Bush/Cheney are just laughing their asses off at all of this. Pelosi prevented any real accountability and now all they have to do is just gum it to death because dems have proven they are "too busy policy making" to bother with accountability. Keep stalling and enough time will pass til dems just drop it. The people are powerless when ignored by their leaders.

They got away with all of it. Pelosi has inadvertently guaranteed impeachment will never be a viable alternative in American government again. That is her only legacy.

The best we can do now is hope that we can imprison Rove and make him pay for the offenses of his bosses as well as his own.

Leave a comment

Advertisement
Please disable your adblocker!
Ads are how we pay the bills!

Subscribe
Tip Line

Josh
Marshall

Bio

Zachary
Roth

Bio

Tag Cloud



Subscribe to this blog's feed.

Advertise Liberally
Share
Close Social Web Email

"To" Email Address

Your Name

Your Email Address