UPDATED: The 18-minute gap and the Saturday Night Massacre, all rolled up into one

by Kagro X
Daily Kos
Thu Apr 12, 2007 at 08:52:51 AM PDT

We've broken the "L word" barrier:

Leahy: Bush Aides Lying About E-Mails

By LAURIE KELLMAN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush's aides are lying about White House e-mails sent on a Republican account that might have been lost, a powerful Senate chairman said Thursday, vowing to subpoena those documents if the administration fails to cough them up.

"They say they have not been preserved. I don't believe that!" Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy shouted from the Senate floor.

"You can't erase e-mails, not today. They've gone through too many servers," said Leahy, D-Vt. "Those e-mails are there, they just don't want to produce them. We'll subpoena them if necessary."

Leahy also drew one key parallel to Watergate:

"Like the famous 18-minute gap in the Nixon White House tapes, it appears likely that key documentation has been erased or misplaced. This sounds like the Administration's version of 'the dog ate my homework.'"

Media note: Suggested scandal nickname, DogAte.