Via the Edwardsville Intelligencer, this interview with Shimkus sheds more light on a least one set of copies of the emails:

“Shimkus said he first learned of the e-mails in the fall of 2005. Just before an upcoming vote on the House floor, House Clerk Jeff Trandahl showed him an excerpt of e-mail exchanges the former page’s parents forwarded to him. The parents, Trandahl said, had expressed concern about the messages but were adamant that they be kept confidential.

What stood out was that Foley asked the page for a photograph of himself.

Shimkus said that he and three others walked down to Foley’s office and confronted him with the messages. “I remember him looking at it, giving it back to us and responding, ‘If I can be accused of being overly friendly then I’m guilty for being overly friendly. When I was a young kid someone was a mentor to me and encouraged me to public service, and that’s all I’m trying to do.’ My response was ‘That’s fine. Stay away from this page and stay away from the pages, plural.’”

After that, Shimkus says he had no indication that the e-mails between Foley and the page were continuing or that there were similar messages between Foley and other pages. Shimkus says that Foley was conspicuously absent from an end-of-the-academic year meeting with all the pages.”

No one has been able to contact Trandhal but no doubt the ethic’s committee has subpoenaed him. But again, there seems to have been many copies made and as such that fact alone made it all the more easy for the “enemy” to get their hands on them.

Since apparently no crime was committed by Foley (it was sick and creepy but so far no crime), the criminal question that remains is who had what, and when they had it. Moreover, how long did they keep it, and ulimately who did they give it to. Reminded that some of the principals such as Edmund have criminal attorneys, that is really the focus of the investigation, and gives you an ideal of what some people are anticipating. While the ethic’s committee is looking into activities of Foley and the actions of the Congress, the fact that the FBI is also looking at just who had what and how they got it.

At this point, considering the ultimate consequences, I’d rather be in the former’s shoes rather than the latter.

More too at AJ Strata, who doing his best Tom McGuire on the timeline.