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.
Let's see Berger knew he was being investigated and certainly knows he took the documents. But it was just fine for Kerry to essentially bring him on staff. That says something about Kerry's judgement and the company he keeps. Does this mean if the the press had found out sooner Kerry would have exercised better judgement (at least as seen by the public)? Is that the point to their arguement? Kerry knew Berger was essentially a thief but hired him anyway. The only "leak" of concern is one surrounding the soundness of Kerry's judgement.
If either of them bothered to tell Kerry that a shoe was about to drop, then HE knew about it for months, also. And if neither of them bothered to clue Kerry in, what's the story here? Is he just a "potted plant," or a ventriloquist's dummy? Don't answer that; it's just a rhetorical question.
Sounds like Kerry's real gripe is with his fellow Democrats, who have the ethics of depraved alley cats. IMHO.
Congressman Billybob
Latest column, "John Kerry & John Edwards: You've GOT to be Kidding"
I know. I should have said self described war hero.
That's because he is NOT. He stole his valor just like Burglar stole the document. There is no low that a Rat will not stoop too.
This is like someone driving 95 mph in a school zone and complaining that the cop who stopped him was only out "to make his quota."
The Republicans live in a different time zone.
I don't think the Republicans have accused anyone of anything. However, now that it is mentioned, you might want to see what WAS on the web yesterday, but got removed from the Kerry site when Berger's news caught fire:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1175720/posts?page=1,50
What everyone is missing is: When a criminal investigation is opened up by DOJ against someone, anyone, even Joe Sixpack, they have to notify that person that such an investigation is being carried out.....
Not to mention the 30 year old DUI charge brought up the Friday before the election.
I guess JF'nK thinks that was just a coincidence too though.
CHECK THE DATE ON THE ARTICLE
7 Full Legislative Days Left Until The AWB Expires
It was Bush and those Syrian musicians trying to railroad Berger.
It wasnt until Sandy Berger started stuffing his shorts with classified documents that his role in the Kerry campaign was described as informal:
Kerry himself makes ample use of the former presidents name, advisers and record. At a Detroit union hall last week, Kerry won his loudest applause when he invoked the Clinton economy. His team of economic advisers is led by Roger Altman (formerly deputy Treasury secretary) and Gene Sperling (Clintons longtime White House economist). The same goes for his foreign-policy team, dominated by Sandy Berger (Clintons national-security adviser) and Richard Holbrooke (his U.N. ambassador).
- Kerry: Looking to Clinton for a Helping Hand (MSNBC)
and
If a Democrat ousts U.S. President George W. Bush in Novembers election, what would the nations new foreign policy look like? Take a glance back to the Clinton White House for a clue.
Top hands from former President Bill Clintons ship stand out among the leading candidates foreign policy advisors. According to the names FP obtained from several campaigns, former U.S. National Security Advisor Sandy Berger is one of the most prominent gurus.
- Revenge of the Clintonites (Foreign Policy)
and
Still Carpenter takes pride in some fresh compromise language about to be added to the platform, a sentence on the war hed painstakingly hashed out during a late-night meeting with several key Kerry advisers, including Sandy Berger, President Clintons national security adviser and a figure widely seen as short-listed as a Kerry administration secretary of state; and Rand Beers, currently heading Kerrys foreign policy team.
- Miami New Times
and on May 28th the Washington Post described Berger as a top Kerry advisor":
Kerry would not rule out preemptive strikes, nor have past presidents, but he would de-emphasize this option in stated U.S. policy. Samuel R. Sandy Berger, a top Kerry adviser, said this represents a profound difference between the two candidates.
- Kerry Vows to Rebuild Alliances, Confront Terrorism (Washington Post)
Yesterday Kerry claimed to have learned about it on "the news."
Sounds a lot like Clinton's repeated use of, "I didn't know about it till I read it in the paper."
It's not our side WHO IS STEALING CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS!!!
BTW ... Johnny ... How is it you were the LAST to find out about this ??
With regard to the timing of the leak: Since when does someone accused of, and investigated for, a felony get a seven month holiday from the press to begin with?
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