Clinton Dispatches Document Thief to Rebut Freeh

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2...9/130253.shtml

Sunday, Oct. 9, 2005 1:01 p.m. EDT

Ex-president Bill Clinton has dispatched convicted national security document thief Sandy Berger to rebut bombshell charges from former FBI Director Louis Freeh set to air on CBS's "60 Minutes" tonight.

The Washington Post reports that producers came under "strong pressure from former president Bill Clinton's advisers" to allow Berger to respond to Freeh's claim that Clinton shook down Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah for a contribution to his presidential library after promising to go soft on the Khobar Towers bombing probe.

In a statement to be read on-air after Freeh details his allegations, Berger claims he was at the meeting and then insists: "The president strongly raised the need for Saudi officials to cooperate with us on the investigation into the attack on Khobar Towers at the time when the FBI was attempting to gain access to the suspects. The president did not raise in any fashion the issue of his library."

In April, Berger pleaded guilty to stealing and destroying top secret national security documents from the National Archives while helping Clinton prepare for his testimony before the 9/11 Commission.

He also admitted that he lied last year when he first called the crime "an honest mistake."

He was sentenced on Sept. 8 to two years probation and fined $50,000.
Just two days later, however - Berger was in legal hot water again, after Virginia highway cops clocked him doing 88 miles per hour in a 55-mph zone.

He was charged with reckless driving: a Class 1 misdemeanor in Virginia that carries a penalty of up to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine.

Appearing in court this past Wednesday, Berger was warned by U.S. District Magistrate Deborah Robinson that his sentence in the theft case could also be expanded because he had violated the terms of his probation.

Perhaps realizing that Berger's checkered past impaired his credibility as a character witness for Clinton, Clinton spokesman Jay Carson told CBS that he has accounts from five other former officials who received briefings on the Clinton-Abdullah meeting and who back Clinton's denial.