July 22, 2004
THEY CAN'T BE SERIOUS...CAN THEY?:
White House Knew of Inquiry on Aide; Kerry Camp Irked: The White House said that senior officials in its counsel's office were told months ago about the criminal investigation of Samuel R. Berger. (ERIC LICHTBLAU and DAVID E. SANGER, 7/22/04, NY Times)
The White House said Wednesday that senior officials in its counsel's office were told by the Justice Department months ago that a criminal investigation was under way to determine if Samuel R. Berger, the national security adviser under President Bill Clinton, removed classified documents about Al Qaeda from the National Archives.The White House declined to say who beyond the counsel's office knew about the investigation, but some administration officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they believed that several top aides to Mr. Bush were informed of the investigation. President Bush himself declined to answer a question Wednesday about whether he had been told, saying: "I'm not going to comment on this matter. This is a serious matter, and it will be fully investigated by the Justice Department."
The disclosure of the investigation forced Mr. Berger to step down as an informal, unpaid adviser to Senator John Kerry's campaign on Tuesday, and on Wednesday the campaign accused the White House of deliberately leaking news of the investigation and said that Vice President Dick Cheney was involved in strategies to divert attention from the Sept. 11 report to be issued Thursday.
"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," a statement issued by Mr. Kerry's campaign said.
In the middle of an investigation into the worst security lapse in our history it's discovered that an official formerly responsible for that security is stealing documents and these knuckleheads are surprised that the executive was informed? FDR and Truman never wanted to hear about the security breaches in their governments, but is that a Democratic principle? Posted by Orrin Judd at July 22, 2004 6:45 PM
The media and the Dems are furiously trying to shift attention from Berger's (potentially) criminal acts to who knew what when and who leaked what when. Let's hope they don't succeed.
Posted by: AWW at July 22, 2004 10:35 PMLet's hope they do; Bill leaked it.
Posted by: Noel at July 22, 2004 10:54 PMNoel - I'm just hoping the Dems aren't able to convince the public that the GOP was trying to pull dirty tricks. Remember the Dem senate Judiciary committee memos that showed they were coordinating their opposition to candidates with outside groups? the Dems and the media were able to shift that story so that all they focused on was that the GOP lifted the memos off a computer, not that what the Dems did was wrong.
If the leak did come from Bill let's find out - it should turn the Clinton and Kerry/Kennedy factions of the Dem party against each other.
That would explain why Truman instituted the Loyalty Program, I guess. Didn't want to know.
I know prosecutors are slow, but why was this strung out long enough to be leaked now? Why weren't indictments handed up months and months ago?
The number of witnesses involved could not be much over a dozen, if that. The physical evidence would fit, apparently, in a briefcase.
I'd say 2 weeks, easy, to gather all the threads and make yarn.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 23, 2004 1:49 AMWho ever leaked it did the Dems. a great favor in the timing. If I were GWB I'd have leaked it between conventions. That's more his style; give them some rope to run with and wrap it on the saddle horn.
The leak was approved by the DNC, Kerry, Kennedy and Clinton.
Posted by: genecis at July 23, 2004 10:00 AMHarry:
It took way longer for Ken Lay and you'd think they'd have wanted him over and done with years ago.
Posted by: oj at July 23, 2004 10:03 AMMaybe Kenny Boy is innocent. Fastow and Skilling are the ones who made big bucks.
Posted by: h-man at July 23, 2004 10:49 AMYes, you'd think that.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 24, 2004 3:18 PM