Posted on 07/20/2004 10:47:03 AM PDT by cyncooper
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Samuel Berger, former President Clinton's national security adviser, is under federal criminal investigation for allegedly removing classified documents and handwritten notes from a National Archives screening room during preparations for his testimony before the 9/11 commission.
Sources familiar with the investigation confirmed it to CNN on Monday.
The sources told CNN the investigation began last October, after Berger spent roughly 30 hours over three or four days reviewing what one said was "tens of thousands of pages" of Clinton administration documents to comply with a request from the 9/11 commission.
Berger was designated as the official from the Clinton administration who would review documents relevant to commission inquiries. He was also a witness at the 9/11 commission hearings and reviewed records to prepare for his personal testimony.
~snip~
A Berger associate, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the FBI served warrants and searched both Berger's home and office earlier this year as part of the investigation.
A government official familiar with the investigation said that some documents are still missing.
Among the documents Berger says he inadvertently took, the sources confirmed, were drafts of a Clinton administration "after action" report on efforts to thwart al Qaeda around the time of the millennium.
Archives officials told investigators that at least one draft of that report is still missing.
Officials close to Berger said it was ludicrous to suggest that he was trying to hide damaging information from the 9/11 commission.
They said the drafts were written by Clinton counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke and had been changed somewhat, as is customary, as the drafts were circulated among relevant agencies and officials.
But the sources close to Berger said there were other copies of the drafts, that the commission had the final version of the report and that Clarke had said there were not significant changes during the drafting process.
The sources said the FBI had contacted Berger several months ago and that he hired Lanny Breuer, who has since been in contact with prosecutors.
~snip~
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.law.printthis.clickability.com ...
I heard .. a February 27th event briefing the reporters
Thanks for filling in the details on the Fox reporting.
During a Rush timeout on WLS in Chicago (ABC) Headline News was that the 9-11 commission considered the information that an ex-Clinton official may have been involved with some missing documents but it wouldn’t affect the commission’s report and considered it a government matter.
The spin begins.
More about Clarke in the (new) NYT article:
"While reviewing one copy of the document in September and another in October, Mr. Berger noticed a slight difference and examined the two more closely, his lawyers said. Then, they said, he inadvertently packed them away and brought them home. It is possible that Mr. Berger repeated the mistake with more versions of the document.
Mr. Clarke said Monday night that it was doubtful that there was malicious intent on the part of Mr. Berger. He said that it would not have made sense to destroy a few versions of the memo; while several copies of that document existed, substantively they were all the same. The Associated Press said that employees of the National Archives alerted the F.B.I. to the possibility that Mr. Berger had removed documents. Agents subsequently searched his home and office in early January."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/20/politics/20CND-BERG.html?hp=&pagewanted=print&position=
Hmmmmmmmmm
More of a tooth-sucker than a "Hmmmmmm". Poor Sandy Bergler (sp-but appropriate). If the feds really intend to prosecute this I can see this scenario playing out long enough to make the Sand Man sweat bullets.
What do they know?
Who else have they interviewed?
Can my excuse hold up?
Will Hillary!(tm) burn me?
Will Bruce drop a dime on me?
Must be a million questions like these running through his tiny little boot-licking mind. Hope he isn't on any drugs that, when withheld, cause him to assume room temperature like Bill & Hill's old Whitewater partner.
If we were smart we would take out a huge Life Insurance Policy on Sandy. He future doesn't look too good,.
It should read "Berger, a former clinton national security advisor and a current KERRY ADVISOR..."
I am wondering if it might have been dems who leaked the info that Berger was being investigated.
Does anybody know if the Justice Dept. announced this?
How did the info get discovered. In the article it indicates that the JD is not talking.
And I have noticed the Dem talking puppets all saying..."this has been going on for months...so why talk about it now"...
Could there be a slim chance that they figured if they(the dems) leaked it now...that the coverage of the Dem convention will overshadow this quickly and...thus make it a lesser issue for the rest of the campaign????
Cause we know that the liberal media will be shameless in their devotion to the the big Rat Party in Boston.
I did not think of this until I started seeing all the Rat talking heads come out with what seems to be the same rehearsed line of...."why are they releasing this now" garbage.
There are several important thread out there today that intrepid Freepers culled about what Clark said / or did in actuality about terrorism during the Clinton Administration. These are eye openers and taken in conjunction with the pdb release, highly informative.
In 1999, Richard Clarke cited gains against bin Laden; "We've made life difficult for him" The Washington Post Archives | January 23, 1999 | Vernon Loeb http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1115213/posts?page=11
and this one: In 2000, Richard Clarke argued against WH based Interagency Coordination Office for Terrorism The Washington Post Archives | October 9, 2000 | Vernon Loeb http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1115167/posts?page=64#77
Hey, Tom Kean,
Check this out!!
I'd like to see the Commission actually make these comments, not "sources close to Berger."
I've seen people on the street who have been fumbling with something in their pants, but these people are usually off their meds.
Just before Condi Rice went before the commission, weren't various Rats making noise about a Summer 2001 daily briefing which mentioned planes?
And implying negligence by the GWB White House because they didn't so something?
It certainly would be interesting if some of these earlier drafts of the Millenium After Action Report also mentioned planes, but cut that material from the final report.
We'll have to rely on Clarke, and Berger's recollection of the copy he shredded in his house.
"While reviewing one copy of the document in September and another in October, Mr. Berger noticed a slight difference and examined the two more closely, his lawyers said. Then, they said, he inadvertently packed them away and brought them home. It is possible that Mr. Berger repeated the mistake with more versions of the document."
He "inadvertently" packed away documents that especially caught his interest?
BS.
By the way, since the lawyer is already spining that the difference was "slight" - it must not be...
Why would the 9/11 Commission need ALL the facts??? They had the solutions on day one (and the accusations). Just that Gorelick was on the commission explains it all. Remember the comment by the Chairman that she was such a dedicated worker "pouring" over all of the documents?
Typical! That Daschle would be more concerned with the *politics* of the timing of the leak than he is with what is again another apparent obstruction of justice and the manipulation of official documents by members of the late-Clinton Administration.
Q: How can you tell when a Democrat is involved in illegal activity? A: He's breathing....Get some freakin' ethics, DassHole!
The only thing that Berger deserves is handcuffs.....along with lil Tommy and the rest of the dem crooks.
By stuffing these documents into his clothes, that tells me Berger knew that what he was doing was wrong. He knew what he was doing.
Let's not forget: Berger is an advisor to the Kerry campaign.
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