Rove's lawyer, Luskin, 'discovers' e-mail that backs Rove's story

[feistydem]

We all know that e-mails can be invented, altered, etc, right?

Suddenly, Robert Luskin ran a new search query in Rove's WH e-mails that pulled up an e-mail from Rove to Stephen Hadley that backs up his claims for the conversation he siad he had with Matt Cooper in which he asserts that he told Cooper not to "go too far out" on the Joe Wilson story. Rove insists that he and Cooper mostly discussed welfare reform.

Cooper said he doesn't recall that conversation or Rove's account of it.

Lo and behold, the mystery e-mail appears:

<snip>

In Cooper's account, Rove told him the wife of White House critic Joseph Wilson worked at the "agency" on WMD issues and was responsible for sending Wilson on a trip to Niger to check out claims that Iraq was trying to buy uranium. But Rove did not disclose this conversation to the FBI when he was first interviewed by agents in the fall of 2003—nor did he mention it during his first grand jury appearance, says one of the lawyers familiar with Rove's account. (He did not tell President George W. Bush about it either, assuring him that fall only that he was not part of any "scheme" to discredit Wilson by outing his wife, the lawyer says.) But after he testified, Luskin discovered an e-mail Rove had sent that same day—July 11—alerting deputy national-security adviser Stephen Hadley that he had just talked to Cooper, the lawyer says. In the e-mail, Rove said Cooper pushed him on whether the president was being hurt by the Niger controversy. "I didn't take the bait," Rove wrote Hadley, adding that he warned Cooper not to get "far out in front on this." After reviewing the e-mail, Rove then returned to the grand jury last year and reported the Cooper conversation. He testified that the talk was initially about "welfare reform"—a topic mentioned in the e-mail—and that Cooper then changed the subject. Cooper has written that he doesn't recall a discussion of welfare reform.



Link: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9630676/site/newsweek/


Any lawyers out there? Does an e-mail stand up in court?

[stopbush]

1. July 11. Isn't Fitz looking into Rove/Miller/Libby conversations

from June?

[WI_DEM]

2. I think they can figure out a way to prove if it was created

[ET Awful]

4. Yup, and by producing a potentially faked e-mail, they just opened up

the possibility of subpoenaing the entire mail server that houses Rove's e-mail account, along with all backup tapes and archive copies of same.

[zann725]

9. The ENTIRE computer "history" of Rove's emails should've

LONG AGO been subpoened and copied. From Fitzgerald's relentless behavior thus far, my guess is, that was done long ago. If a "new" email suddenly "appeared", that would stand out as obviously as the grinding jaw of a certain ex-addict yesterday on the "Today Show" each time Matt asked a challenging question.

[displacedtexan]

11. Even if KKKarl only opened the email to change the text...

that little action will also show up (dated and time stamped for posterity) in the computer's memory.

That's what Martha Stewart did (and tried to undo when she thought better of it).

[TahitiNut]

12. That very much depends on the email software and the modification approach

I'd have no problem whatsoever (other than ethical) making an undetectable change to email on my system. That's because I know how it's stored and how to access it with tools other than the email client software itself. It would be undetectable on my system but would create a mismatch if the matching email were found and compared from another (correspondent) person's system.

I have little doubt, however, that the White House uses "enterprise" software that's server-based and heavily safeguarded. Nonetheless, it wouldn't be the first time I've seen such operations staffed with very "cooperative" techies able and willing to take on "special assignments." At one Fortune 50 corporation I worked at (as an Internal Audit Manager), I found such an individual in the IT Department who made "strategic" tweaks to production data ... including financial data ... at the behest of certain executives who weren't inclined to be concerned with trivia like regulations, laws, and financial controls.

[Renew Deal]

3. Isn't this old news?

I have read about the contents of that email before.

[Tummler]

5. I think you're right

I remember reading about this e-mail (or at least, the substance of it) some time ago. I also recall that nothing in the e-mail exonerated Rove, despite what his lawyer would have us believe.

[feistydem]

6. I guess I need to come out of the cave more often.

sorry for the repeat.

:spank:

[Tummler]

8. Not your fault! Newsweek is passing this off as new (n/t)

[Beetwasher]

7. The Email Actually Indicts Rove

Despite Luskin's claim to the contrary. It confirms he spoke to at least Cooper about Plame. That's illegal since her activities were Top Secret and Rove knew that.

[zbdent]

10. Didn't Luskin also find that Rove could get millions of dollars just by

working with some banker in a foreign country, if only he'd supply his checking account number . . . ?

(Wait a minute, that sounds like Rove really could have had that "happen" . . .)