What To Do About the Emails?

I liked this idea from Mark A.R. Kleiman:

Fielding proposes to use the RNC-held emails as bargaining chips in the struggle over whether Rove and his accomplices will testify under oath. In the meantime, every day increases the risk that "erased" emails that could in fact be recovered from RNC hard drives will instead be written over and lost permanently.

There is every reason for the Congress to act to secure those computers immediately and protect the data on them. By the same token, it is urgent to get Rove and his colleagues on record under oath right now, before they know what will and won't prove to be recoverable. Obviously, the Justice Department is not going to investigate this matter, and there is no longer a Special Prosecutor statute. That leaves only the Congress, "the grand inquest of the nation," to uncover the facts.

The Congress has plenary power to compel both the production of both documents (including the hard drives those documents sit on) and the attendance of witnesses. It need not use the courts for that purpose. A majority vote of either house can order the Sergeant-at-Arms of that house (presumably using the Capitol Police as deputies if necessary) to enforce its subpoenas.

The quicker they act, the better. I wouldn't be surprised to see computers suddenly dropping off the roof of the RNC building today. This is an investigation that is necessary for the integrity of the justice system in this country, and we have to have an accountable executive branch. Let's get going.

By the way, there's a new document dump this morning. And Paul Kiel found something interesting: indeed Tim Griffin was NOT the only replacement USA suggested by Justice. There were others tapped to fill positions there, under the Patriot Act powers (since reversed) that would bypass Senate confirmation.