I can’t believe these were release, IE, not destroyed... er.... “lost in an errant data dump”
Also, I’ve heard lots of justifications for being in the wrong, and criminals/sociopaths are the usual suspects for self justification, but saying that it’s great to be misunderstood in a wrong-doing context is probably not what Emerson had in mind. Quoting transcendentalist philosophers doesn’t make you less crooked.
copies of the hard drive were saved by agents to cover their behinds (or stay alive).