WASHINGTON - Former national security adviser Sandy Berger, the subject of a criminal investigation over the disappearance of terrorism documents, stepped aside on Tuesday as an informal adviser to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites).
"Mr. Berger does not want any issue surrounding the 9/11 commission to be used for partisan purposes. With that in mind he has decided to step aside as an informal adviser to the Kerry campaign until this matter is resolved," said Lanny Breuer, Berger's attorney.
The investigation had threatened to become a political problem for Kerry a week before his nominating convention in Boston in which he hopes to persuade voters that he is ready to be commander in chief. The cornerstone of Kerry's argument against Bush is that he used faulty intelligence and poor judgment in waging war against Iraq (news - web sites).
Berger, former President Clinton (news - web sites)'s national security adviser, is under criminal investigation by the Justice Department (news - web sites) after highly classified terrorism documents disappeared while he was reviewing what should be turned over to the Sept. 11 commission.
Berger's home and office were searched earlier this year by FBI (news - web sites) agents armed with warrants after the former Clinton adviser voluntarily returned some sensitive documents to the National Archives and admitted he also removed handwritten notes he had made while reviewing the sensitive documents.
However, some drafts of a sensitive after-action report on the Clinton administration's handling of al-Qaida terror threats during the December 1999 millennium celebration are still missing, officials and lawyers told The Associated Press.
The obvious intent is to try to keep Kerry out of the story as much as possible. Why are they so nervous?
When the Hell did he become an "informal" advisor to Kerry? All of the articles I have found until today refer to him as THE CHIEF FOREIGN POLICY ADVISOR to JOHN KERRY!
In an interview published July 9th on the website Bisnow.com Berger is descibed as a "chief foreign policy adviser to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry"
""Mr. Berger does not want any issue surrounding the 9/11 commission to be used for partisan purposes...." "
Too late. "Pant-load" and Kerry can expect to see alot of this in the days ahead.
He expects to come back. What a clueless egotist.
But now the AP officially declares the threat over.