The Delete Button

[via Atrios]

Talking Points Memo uncovers some exceedingly worrisome tidbits tucked away in a paragraph's report about the ongoing CIA leak investigation:

But down there in the last graf there's this ...

Fitzgerald, who is fighting Libby's request, said in a letter to Libby's lawyers that many e-mails from Cheney's office at the time of the Plame leak in 2003 have been deleted contrary to White House policy.

Does that seem a bit odd?

Fitzgerald's letter says that "we have learned that not all email of the Office of Vice President and the Executive Office of President for certain time periods in 2003 was preserved through the normal archiving process on the White House computer system."

Ouch. That's not a particularly pleasant possibility, is it? Atrios points to this article, where then-counsel Alberto Gonzoles admittedly alerted Andy Card to the investigation 12 hours before he alerted other staff members, opening a window of opportunity...

Comforting.