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.
If it is the WH, I'm proud of them for finally growing a pair.
so what? good for us.
So apparently it is okay for your chief foreign affairs advisor on your campaign to engage in criminal activity--it's just not okay for the public to know about it.
Indeed. I would love to see someone from the Administration say there was nothing leaky about it, hell yes I told the media.
Snotnose terry wants all of the documentation on his cohort under the Freedom of Information Act BUT takes issue when information is freely reported. Suffering cats, how do these people live with themselves?
"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."
**Rolling Eyes Until Only The White Shows**
Yes, now nobody will pay attention to the report.
WTF?! Over?
Their playbook never changes does it?
Such a smokescreen.
Obviously the DNC, Burglar, Kerry and Clinton knew about it.
The question is: why didn't they think the info would eventually come out.
And knowing that it would eventually come out, why would they put a burglar like Berger on as an advisor.
'Republicans' who? I don't think the RNC has said that, the WH certainly hasn't said anything about it, the Justice Dept hasn't said it. Did Hastert or DeLay or some other Republican official say it? I don't think so. So which Republicans said it? The VRWC? This does sound like a guilty conscience.
This is what we need to be asking. How was this covered up for so long?
"Kerry is such a metrosexual whiner... "
I see "metrosexual" frequently. What is the definition?
The Clinton machine may have released or leaked this info.
It is great timing for Hilliary!
If a campaign worker of yours breaks the law would you prefer to find out after the election?
Im confused:
Leaking information about an ongoing prison investigation = Good
Leaking information about an ongoing investigation of misappropriation of classified documents= Bad
Is that about it...?
Let's all e-mail the DNC with our assessment of the Kerry blunder - dncrewards@dnc.org
No, too late.
If it had been "leaked" to help HC then why wasn't it leaked a few weeks ago? Then there would have been time enough to let the affair work its way through the media, and also starting to affect Kerry/Edwards in the polls before the DNC convention.
I'm sure that Haliburton figures into this equation too???? These dims may be pathetic but they sure do have their act together spinning the obvious into the in-obvious.....
HOWARD DEAN!
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