Thief Sandy Berger advises Clinton campaign

October 12, 2007
From the Desk of Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton:

“Personnel is policy,” or so the old political adage goes. This week, the media has gotten around to exposing a criminal as part of the personnel of Hillary Clinton’s kitchen cabinet. As I’ve been noting for some time now, disgraced former Clinton National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, is already in the Clinton campaign’s inner circle. This according to The Washington Examiner:

“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.”

Berger is reportedly offering Hillary Clinton foreign policy advice.

In case you do not recall the details of Berger’s unconscionable breach of national security, while preparing for his testimony before the 9/11 Commission, Berger stuffed classified documents from the Archives in his socks and down his pants before spiriting them out of the building. After hiding the documents under a construction trailer for a period of time, he later retrieved them, took them home, and destroyed them with scissors. Why? Because the documents evidently did not cast the Clinton administration in a favorable light with respect to its response to terrorism.

Berger was caught only because suspicious Archives staffers staged in informal sting operation. He claims he only stole copies. But according to the House Government Reform Committee, Berger had access to original documents as well. In other words, we will likely never know what else he may have taken and destroyed, and how much damage he caused.

Just the sort of guy you want at the top of your campaign’s foreign policy team, don’t you think?

In July 2005, Judicial Watch filed a bar complaint against Berger. Facing the prospect of losing his law license, Berger decided to “voluntarily” relinquish his law license. (Trust me. There was nothing voluntary about it.) His security clearance, would, of course, be reinstated just in time for a Hillary presidency.

Hillary’s connections to Berger shouldn’t surprise anyone. He’s been a friend (and criminal co-conspirator) of the Clintons for a long time. In fact, he helped mastermind the Chinagate scandal, which involved the illegal sale of trade mission seats in exchange for campaign contributions to the Clinton-Gore campaign. And clearly Hillary has proven she has no problem surrounding herself with criminals.

None the less, once the press got hold of Berger’s role as advisor to the Democratic presidential front-runner, the Clinton campaign did attempt to distance itself from Berger, claiming he has “no official role.” That means absolutely nothing, of course. After all, Hillary Clinton had “no official role” in the Clinton administration, and we all know how much mischief she was able to create without a proper title.

The important issue with respect to Berger is this: As a foreign policy advisor to candidate (and potential president) Hillary Clinton, he would presumably have access to sensitive information, and he has proven time and time again that he cannot be trusted. By continuing to use the criminal Berger as an advisor, Mrs. Clinton again shows that contempt for the rule of law is as much of a “policy” for her as universal health care.