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.
All reports so far is there isn't a video. No one would be happier than I to find out that is wrong, but as more reports state it, the more certain it seems.
All reports seem to affirm eye witnesses (plural), though.
Whoa--I'm not whining about incompetence. I think it's perfectly reasonable to take 6 months, 8 months, or longer to conduct an investigation of this magnitude.
SPOT ON! Also, no matter when it was leaked/learned, it would have been a question of timing! But, yes, during the prison scandal it would have been a much appreciated diversion!
Reagan's Speech at the 4th Annual CPAC Convention: A New Republican Party
The time is now.
Misunderstanding. I wasn't referring to you but to a lot of other posts on this and other threads.
The fools!!! The media had this story on a glidepath to kill it within the next news cycle. But NO!! Kerry decides to goose it up for another couple of days by trying to make cheap and defensive political hay on the story!
This was posted at 6:26 EDT at The Corner:
BERGER'S GETTING A CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION [KJL]
Speaker Hastert on Congressional Investigation Regarding National Security and Sandy Berger
(Washington D.C.) Speaker of the House J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) today made the following statement:
"Like many Americans concerned about our national security, I look forward to learning more from the House Government Reform Committee's investigation into the wayward actions by Sandy Berger. The American people deserve to know why Mr. Berger apparently skirted the law and removed highly classified terrorism documents, purportedly in his pants, from a secure reading room at the National Archives and then proceeded to lose or destroy some of them.
"How could President Clinton's former National Security Advisor be so cavalier?
"Was Mr. Berger trying to cover-up key facts regarding intelligence failures during his watch?
"What happened to those missing documents?
"Whose hands did they fall into?
"What kind of security risk does that pose to Americans today?
"I know Chairman Tom Davis (R-VA) will work to get the full truth of what really happened and help all of us better understand why Sandy Berger, a person who should fully understand the gravity and importance of sensitive national security materials, would operate with such overt negligence and apparent disregard for the law."
http://www.nationalreview.com/thecorner/corner.asp
If the Bush camp wanted to embarrass Kerry and the Dems, they would have release the story next week, during the Dems grope-fest in Boston.
All reports seem to affirm eye witnesses (plural), though.
It's all over then. Stick a fork in it, it's done.
Well, of course the headline would identify the two Senators as Republicans. Maybe the more exact headline should have read, "Senators Accuse ... ". The party affiliation should have been left off the headline. The point I was trying to make was in answer to the DNC filing under the FOIA for the information -- The RNC hasn't made any accusations, at least not on an official basis.
You're so wrong.
Hastert has really stepped up to the plate and acted as a leader, framing the issue and questions that need to be asked. Thanks for posting that.
Very good.
Just a reminder....Berger has ADMITTED to most of it, and is finessing the worst of it.
No, this isn't over. Not by a long shot.
Bump for #110
Appears Kerry is flipping Bergers now......
Looks like they're running the Clinton playbook - deny, delay, attack.
Chambliss on with Chris Matthews. Evidently the Kerry memo also accuses the Republicans of having lunch together yesterday and strategizing to branch out and make their statements against Berger. And the machiavellian Cheney was at the lunch.
Chambliss says that is nonsense. Matthews makes him state it flatly (which he had already done), so he denied it flatly again.
Chambliss says the whole story is weird. He can't picture Berger stuffing documents in his clothes, but he needs to answer for it. He wants to know what he did with those documents.
(BTW, was it me, or earlier did Chris talk to John McCain, who said the president's "sixteen words" have been more or less vindicated, and Chris still got away with not saying the name "Joe Wilson")
It wasn't you, I heard it, too.
He said it was very serious and that the DOJ would carry out a full investigation, and that he would not make any further comments. Of course the reporter was not satisfied with this but repeated the question, whereupon the President repeated the answer, somewhat more forcefully.
His comments on CNN were just right: presidential, and without saying much he made it clear this may be a crime, and crimes are handled by the legal authorities not the WH.
Kerry and the DNC look very small by comparison.
Worth repeating...for those of us who missed the interview and your post.
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