Read the complete transcript to Tuesday's show
Updated: 9:25 a.m. ET July 21, 2004
JOE SCARBOROUGH, HOST: Tonight‘s top headline, a former Clinton national security adviser under investigation for smuggling highly classified terror documents.
[snip] Sandy Berger went to the National Archives, took highly classified documents and allegedly stuffed them in his trousers and socks. Now he says it‘s all a misunderstanding. But is it just a coincidence that those documents are critical of the Clinton administration‘s handling of terror before 9/11? We have a fierily political debate coming up.
Plus, the chilling story of one couple aboard a Northwest Airlines flight where 14 Middle Eastern men behaved suspiciously, that story is now sparking a national debate. Are our skies safe? We brought you the exclusive story. And tonight, we‘re going to be asking a pilot, a flight attendant and an air marshal what you can do to avoid terror in our skies.
[snip] SCARBOROUGH: Welcome to our show.
You know, a firestorm is erupting around John Kerry‘s former national security adviser. It‘s time for tonight‘s “Real Deal.”
Now, former Clinton National Security Chief Sandy Berger is in hot water tonight after news leaded that the FBI had launched an investigation into top secret documents that Berger smuggled out, classified information from a National Archives room. Berger first visited the National Archives on July 18, 2003, to review secret documents involving the Clinton administration‘s flawed response to terror plots.
Berger returned on September 2 of that same year and then returned to the National Archives on October 2. But on Berger‘s October 2 visit, the Kerry adviser was told that the documents he was requesting were now missing. These were of course the same documents that Berger had seen before, but had improperly removed by stuffing them in his pants, his jackets and his socks, this according to Berger‘s own lawyer and members of the National Archives staff.
Later that month, the FBI launched an investigation into the missing documents and eventually searched Berger‘s own home and the office for missing documents. The documents contained information about the security of America‘s infrastructure, its ports and its airports. And on February 27, Berger, now a John Kerry adviser, briefed the media on Kerry‘s new plans for fighting terror.
And on May 27, 2004, John Kerry launched into an 11-day national security tour focusing on the security of America‘s infrastructure, its ports and, yes, its airports, the very same issues that Berger‘s documents reportedly touched upon.
[snipped to end] Full Transcript
Ping to #228
Pinging you to my post #223, too (which includes a link to the Berger timeline earlier on this thread).
And that's when the staff noticed documents missing and devised their sting for his next visit.
According to the article at #223, on "September 23, 2003 he (Weinstein) was invited to meet with Ms. Dina Powell, Assistant to the President and Director of Presidential Personnel about the possibility of a nomination as the next Archivist of the United States".
Coincidence? I think not.
Ding! Ding! Ding! This has something to do with it, too!
Thanks for the info ... This Thread is one of the reasons I love FR!!
Our reseach department ROCKS!
I believe I read an article that Berger was sent there at Clinton's request
Finally. He was working for sKerry at the time. How no one can see the triangle of Clinton/Berger/sKerry is beyond me. The epitome of a manage-a trois.