Oh ... THAT transcript.

Just savour the overwhelming stench of mendacity coming out of the White House here:

... Administration and congressional officials said that the administration provided congressional investigators earlier this year with official transcripts of the daily noon FEMA conference calls conducted before, during and after Katrina. But the administration initially told Congress that the transcript for the Aug. 29 call—the call congressional investigators were most curious about, given that it occurred as the hurricane was actually battering the Gulf Coast—did not exist, with officials initially telling Capitol Hill that someone at FEMA or Homeland Security forgot to push the button on a tape recorder.

“Everybody has been looking for that transcript,” former FEMA chief Michael Brown said Wednesday.

Yeah, the one transcript that people were just dying to read ... damn ... sorry, squire ... my bad. But wait! What's this?

A White House official unexpectedly e-mailed the transcript to NEWSWEEK earlier today Wednesday morning—initially without explaining that it was the missing transcript. Two officials familiar with congressional investigations said that the document was turned over to Capitol Hill investigators Tuesday night. Administration officials told both Congress and NEWSWEEK that FEMA officials in Atlanta had taped the Aug. 29 conference call by aiming a video camera at a TV screen rather than following the usual recording procedure. The videotape was subsequently discovered and transcribed.

Wow. What luck -- the White House having that transcript the whole time. Man, I'll bet there are some red faces over there for sure. And why might the White House have wanted to sit on this thing? Oh ...

While the newly discovered transcript does provide new evidence of initial presidential engagement in the Katrina crisis and of conflicting information about the state of New Orleans levees on Aug. 29, it also exposes some contradictions in previous administration explanations about the role of the White House and top officials in handling the crisis.

Should have burned that fucking thing after all, I guess.