Disgraced Sandy Berger joins Hillary Clinton campaign - Political Forum

superdude17* · #1 (**permalink**) 10-08-2007, 11:42 AM

Source: Disgraced Sandy Berger joins Hillary Clinton campaign

Quote:

Sandy Berger, who stole highly classified terrorism documents from the National Archives, destroyed them and lied to investigators, is now an adviser to presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Berger, who was fired from John Kerry’s presidential campaign when the scandal broke in 2004, has assumed a similar role in Clinton’s campaign, even though his security clearance has been suspended until September 2008. This is raising eyebrows even among Clinton’s admirers.

“It shows poor judgment and a lack of regard for Berger’s serious misdeeds,” said law professor Jonathan Adler of Case Western Reserve University, who nonetheless called Clinton “by far the most impressive candidate in the Democratic field.”

Adler told The Examiner that it is “simply incomprehensible to me that a serious contender for the presidency would rely upon him as a key foreign policy advisor.”

He added: “If Senator Clinton becomes the Democratic nominee, at some point she will begin to receive national security briefings that will include sensitive information. At such a point, continuing to keep Berger on board as a key advisor, where he might have access to sensitive material, would be beyond incomprehensible.”

The Clinton campaign declined to comment.

Berger has admitted stealing documents from the National Archives in advance of the 9/11 Commission hearings in 2003. The documents, written by White House counterterrorism czar Richard Clarke, were a “tough review” of the Clinton administration’s shortcomings in dealing with terrorism, Clarke’s lawyer told the Washington Post.

On several occasions, Berger stuffed highly classified documents into his pants and socks before spiriting them out of the Archives building in Washington, according to investigators. On one occasion, upon reaching the street, he hid documents under a construction trailer after checking the windows of the Archives and Justice Department buildings to make sure he was not being watched.

Berger came back later and retrieved the documents, taking them home and cutting them up with scissors. Two days later, he was informed by Archive employees that his removal of documents had been detected.

“Berger panicked because he realized he was caught,” said a report by the National Archives inspector general, which also recounted his initial reaction. “Berger lied.”

Berger also lied to the public, telling reporters he made an “honest mistake” by “inadvertently” taking the documents, which he blamed on his own “sloppiness.” Bill Clinton vouched for the explanation for Berger, who served as his national security adviser.

Berger later conceded: “I was giving a benign explanation for what was not benign.”

The Justice Department initially said Berger stole only copies of classified documents and not originals. But the House Government Reform Committee later revealed that an unsupervised Berger had been given access to classified files of original, uncopied, uninventoried documents on terrorism. Several Archives officials acknowledged that Berger could have stolen any number of items and they “would never know what, if any, original documents were missing.”

At his sentencing in September 2005, Berger was fined $50,000, placed on probation for two years and stripped of his security clearance for three years.

Source: DC Examiner

This will make outstanding campaign commercials against her. Smartest woman in America...

No, This is simply part of the “pay off” Sandy gets for taking the fall for the Clintons when he “sanitized” the 9-11 records. What little respect I had for the Department of Justice evaporated when they pleaded Sandy out to a misdemeanor for basically treason.

superdude17* · #2 (**permalink**) 10-08-2007, 11:56 AM

oh please. no comparison of the two. karl rove didn't take a stash of top secret intelligence documents w/ him.

Ghost Rider · #3 (**permalink**) 10-08-2007, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MountainMike

No - Karl was probably the one that outed Plame,

PLAME and her hubby were the ones to 'out' Plame. They blabbed it all over D.C. It was the 'worst kept secret' in town. Rove didn't do it .. they did it to themselves. They LOVED the attention.

Oh .. and she wasn't considered an undercover agent at the time. She hadn't been in a long while.

As far as Sandy Berger joining Clinton ... i'm truly shocked. I figured she was slicker and smarter than to do this. Sandy Berger should be in prison for LIFE for what he did. And yet he's walking free.

Note to Hillary ... you are smarter than this .... get rid of him!

LessGovMrPrez · #4 (**permalink**) 10-08-2007, 05:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MountainMike

Hers was a typical CIA file marked classified on it, which legally mandates confidentiality.

It doesn't matter if she had been inactive. If someone it outted, people in other countries can do a witch hunt for contact people resulting in imprisonments and murder.

Well yes it does....lol. According to the law it was not a crime, which is why nobody was convicted of outing her. Libby was convicted of purgery about who told him what. That however does not equal outing a spy, who was in no place to be outed.

Can we get back on topic now please?

Why is Berger allowed to work in government again? This guy destroyed evidence and official documents from the National Archives. But according to all Dems, he was just sloppy.....lol. Even Clinton stuck up for him, and why not, after all it was evidence of him not donig anything right that Berger destroyed.

This is absolutely, the most God-awful thing to date concerning the Clinton's. Giving Sandy "Burglar" a job is just the beginning though. Watch and see.