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Now to be fair, from the context of the email, it seems likely that Goodling's primary purpose in asking people to "delete prior versions" of the documents was to make sure that everyone was on the same page and not working off of outdated materials.

In other words, I don't think she was motivated by a desire to destroy documents that Congress might want for their investigation.

That said, as an attorney, she should have known better than to make such a request.

If there is any kind of litigation or investigation underway or even contemplated, you don't instruct people to delete documents. It doesn't matter if that's your normal practice and you're just trying to keep people from getting confused; it just looks bad, and it can get you and your organization in a lot of trouble.

Goodling is not some low-level administrator. She was a senior legal counsel at the Justice Department.

That Goodling would make such a request despite the budding Congressional inquiry into the matter is, at best, indicative of carelessness and sloppy practices.