"NSA taps into Google, Yahoo clouds, can collect data 'at will,' says Post"
https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/nsa-taps-into-google...
"National Security Letters"
https://www.eff.org/issues/national-security-letters
There is a reason behind the usual in court phrase of "..tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth...". So, if a third party would get copies of the data, it would be true Google deleted it...It just not be "the whole truth".