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A federal magistrate is giving the White House five business days to report on whether computer backup tapes contain copies of millions of e-mails that disappeared from computer servers during the government’s investigation into the Valerie Plame affair. Two federal laws mandate that the White House preserve e-mails and other records. The National Security Archive and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington have filed suit to ensure that the White House complies with the relevant federal laws. (AP)

The Department of Defense’s Inspector General refuses to investigate former Halliburton/KBR employee Jamie Leigh Jones’ allegations of gang rape by fellow employees in Baghdad because he asserts that the Justice Department is looking into the matter. Though the alleged rape happened in 2005, both Democratic and Republican lawmakers have failed to get answers from the Bush White House on the status of Leigh’s complaint. (ABC’s “The Blotter”)

Concerned that ethics allegations surrounding John Doolittle’s (R-CA) ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff might sink his re-election chances and cost the party a seat in Congress, Republican leaders are urging the California representative to retire. (The Hill)

Presidential candidate Ron Paul was once fond of publishing political newsletters that contain “decades worth of obsession with conspiracies, sympathy for the right-wing militia movement, and deeply held bigotry (sub. req.) against blacks, Jews, and gays.” Though it is not clear that Paul authored all of these offensive political musings, The New Republic reports that “they were published under a banner containing Paul’s name, and the articles (except for one special edition of a newsletter that contained the byline of another writer) seem designed to create the impression that they were written by him–and reflected his views.” (The New Republic)

A former Marine sergeant testified before a board of inquiry that when Marines fired on civilian vehicles in Afghanistan last March he had not seen evidence that his convoy had been fired upon. The board is investigating the incident, which left as many as 19 people dead. (Los Angeles Times)

An appeals court is questioning whether a judge incorrectly barred some testimony from the trial of David Safavian, former chief of staff of the General Services Administration. Safavian was convicted last year of making false statements and obstruction of justice in connection with the Jack Abramoff scandal. (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

After Linda Chavez was forced to withdraw her nomination to be President Bush’s labor secretary because she was making payments to an illegal immigrant (see our list of scandalized politicians) she and her family founded conservative political action committees and raised tens of millions of dollars. Chavez’s stated goals were to crush labor “bosses” and “liberal politics in the country,” but Chavez seemed most effective in lining her own family’s pockets. A mere 1 % of the $24.5 million that Chavez raised went to politicians. Now she’s back at it with another group. (Harpers)

A group of freshman Democrats is advocating strengthening last December’s proposal to create an outside ethics office. The group argues that the office should be given subpoena powers in order to carry out its investigations. (The Hill)

The White House has withdrawn its appeal of a 2007 court decision that struck down revised U.S. Forest Service rules governing the management of 191 million acres of national forests. A federal district judge had ruled that the Forest Service had failed to meet the requirements of the Endangered Species Act in developing the rules. (AP)

The Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle Eastern Affairs (Mark Kimmitt) told the Heritage Foundation that he thinks that the chances of the “surge” succeeding in 2008 and beyond have “maybe” a “50-50” chance “if we play our cards right.” If we don’t, Kimmitt handicaps the chance of success at “maybe three in 10.” (Think Progress)

A federal judge refused to grant defense lawyers’ request to delay the corruption trial of Tony Rezko, a former fundraiser and adviser for Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. Rezko’s lawyers had argued that they needed more time to review the evidence, which includes 1.5 million pages of documents and 55,000 electronic filed. (Chicago Tribune)

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