Posted on 07/21/2004 1:15:11 PM PDT by The_Victor
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrat John Kerry (news - web sites)'s presidential campaign accused the Bush White House on Wednesday of disclosing the existence of a criminal investigation against former national security adviser Sandy Berger for political advantage.
The objective of such a leak, the Kerry campaign said in a political memo distributed by email, was to take attention away from a report to be issued on Thursday by the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The criminal investigation of Berger began last October but only came to light this week.
"The timing of this leak suggests that the White House is more concerned about protecting its political hide than hearing what the commission has to say about strengthening our security," the Kerry campaign said.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the White House had nothing to do with the disclosure that Berger, who was national security adviser under former President Bill Clinton (news - web sites), was under investigation for removing copies of highly classified documents from the National Archives.
"I'm not aware of how this story came about. I know of no one in the White House that is aware of how this story came about," McClellan said.
He said officials in the White House legal counsel's office were made aware of the Berger investigation some time ago because they were in charge of putting together documents for the Sept. 11 commission to see.
Complaining of the "questionable timing" of the leak, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee (news - web sites), Terry McAuliffe, filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking the release of any correspondence between the Justice Department (news - web sites) and the White House on the Berger probe.
Berger and one of his lawyers said on Monday he had inadvertently removed copies of a classified memo, as well as his notes on the material, as he reviewed it to determine what Clinton administration-era documents could be turned over to the Sept. 11 commission.
Republicans have accused Berger of stealing the documents for use by Kerry's campaign. Berger was an informal foreign policy adviser for Kerry until he stepped down on Tuesday in the heat of the flap over the documents.
The Sept. 11 report is expected to detail as many as 10 missed opportunities to head off the Sept. 11 attacks but stop short of saying the attacks could have been prevented.
I do this to the few Lefties I bother debating. It rattles their cage when you explain their view before they even say it out loud, then I ask them for the specifics to back it up (e.g. what specifically did Cheney do that was wrong while at Halliburton? What was his job title and function? etc.).
They're mindless robots (Ratbots) and should be treated as such.
It's really funny because the Klintoons probably leaked it
themselves...It does show that the security of our country
has been in jeopardy for the past 12 years....hell, China
probably has more intelligence than the Senate Committee
that should be blamed for a helluvaa lot more than they
are..these pompous asses...screw up more than they help-
like the Judicial appointments that are being blocked ..
get the press on their ...arce. Jake
I just hope that the WH understands the level of anger about this and doesn't weasel out. I have had enough of these lying, stealing, cheating, pants-and-socks-stuffing Democrats running roughshod over the law.
If Berger really did this--and I have little doubt that he did--I want blood.
Well done, grasshopper. (I'm just tongue in cheek here).
Good point.
Analyze the enemy and his response. The level of his response, the intensity of his response and the sensitiveness of his response.
Therein you will see how much this causes him fear.
Judging by the MacAuliffe and other Dem. damage control and seize the offensive-like comments today, they know they are sitting on a frikkin P.R. POWDERKEG. BLAAAAMMO!!!
Also, how do we know this is a high-level leak? The AP broke the story last night, and David Gergen was on one of the network blab-fest shows this morning. The AP is hardly the most likely recipient of a White House leak, which would go instead to the Post or Wash. Times, Wall Street Journal, something along those lines. Or, this could just be a lucky break on the part of a persistant investigative journalist. Or, a low-level staffer could have done this as an ego boost or to help Bush.
Back to the HARD BALL game of the 1980s. They ought to get out of the way, if they are not prepared to handcuff Berger by the end of the week, mark my word. They get me almost as mad as the Libs/Demos they are supposed to be vanquishing.
"Hardball time. Release the videos now of "Pantload Berger" stuffing top secret papers where the sun never shines."
That'll be coming in October along with the correspondence betweeen Kerry and Berger about lifting the Documents.
(That'd be sweet!)
Folks should screen the 9/11 report tomorrow for this info - if it's in there then it's obvious where it came from (DemoncRATs dumping it out early trying to minimize the sting from something they'd hoped would solely perpetuate their "Bush lied" myths)
They need to assemble a strong case to successfully prosecute the former National Security Advisor. The frenzied response suggests the Dems were not ready for this at all.
What did Kerry know and when did he know it? It's Senate Investigation time!
BINGO. Gold star on the lapel for you, sir.
Look, this Thread is an hour and a half old. The comments are still being posted. The number is climbing up close to 170 posted comments. Ususally after 30 minutes a thread is old news and is dead. Every thread related to this subject is breaking records for interest. What does that tell us.
The Bush campaign and the GOP had best jump on this like a hound dog on a ham bone.
I disagree.
If the case were sufficiently weak, Berger would have been instructed by Clinton, McAuliffe, et alia to DENY, DENY, DENY. This is the first line of defense, and in politics, it is usually enough. Why? Because in the absence of real evidence, all the media can do is focus on the tennis match of accusations going back and forth between the parties. This eventually creates enough doubt for the perp. to walk.
But in this case, Berger's attorney has ADMITTED to the removal of the documents. I doubt this would have happened unless the evidence against him was ironclad.
Someone of Hannity's show just now made a great comment. He said that he highly doubted that the White House was behind this leak. Since this investigation has been going on for a while, along with a large amount of the Bush-bashing, why would the White House wait until now to leak this story? One would think that if they were going to leak it, it would have been done when the bulk of the Bush-bashing was going on. This guy clearly feels as we here on FR do, that this leak has the fingerprints and M.O. of the Clintons all over it. The story was going to be officially released to the press in a few days. We all know that this ploy of releasing damaging leaks to the press prior to any formal announcement was standard practive of the Clinton White House. Since this story was definitely going to be detrimental to the Left, it stands to reason that the Left is responsible for it's leak in an attempt to reduce its effect.
It had to be Craig Livingstone...but who hired him?
They'd better. I generally like Bush and his people, but I'm telling you: if they let this slide, I may not be able to forgive them. Berger stands credibly accused of STEALING DOCUMENTS RELATED TO NATIONAL SECURITY IN A TIME OF WAR.
If the allegations are true, Berger's name should accrue the same degree of infamy as Benedict Arnold.
Complaining of the "questionable timing" of the leak, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Terry McAuliffe, filed a Freedom of Information Act request seeking the release of any correspondence between the Justice Department and the White House on the Berger probe.
"The timing ...", the "questionable timing"...
The Freepin' TIMING?!?
Yes, let's talk about "timing".
While we're at it, how about the "timing" as it relates to this crap?...
Civil Rights Panel Poised to Discuss Senate 'Memogate' Affair
Where in the hell is the RNC regarding acquisition of further information about that crap???
Whether or not someone is held accountable, this could be the final nail in the Kerry presidential coffin, don't you think?
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