Sandy Berger's Deal is Shady

SANDY BERGER'S DEAL IS SHADY -- (House of Representatives - April 13, 2005)

(Mr. PITTS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. PITTS. Madam Speaker, last year, former Clinton National Security Adviser Sandy Berger stole classified documents from the National Archives, five copies of an "after-action" memo on the 2000 millennium terror plot, to be precise. He later destroyed, he cut up, three of the copies that contained handwritten notes from administration officials. Then, he lied about it to Federal investigators. The memo was severely critical of the Clinton administration's handling of the incident.

Recently, we learned that Mr. Berger made a deal with Federal officials, and the deal was not 5 years in prison instead of 10. No, he gets a slap on the wrist in exchange for admitting he lied.

So let us just make sure we have the score right here. Martha Stewart tells a lie about a stock sale; she goes to prison. Sandy Berger lies about stealing and destroying national security documents; he gets a slap on the wrist. So send the person who lied about money to jail, but go easy on the person who lied about stolen and destroyed classified documents who tried to cover up the public record on an issue of life and death and national security.

Justice? Sorry to say, not this time.

http://thomas.loc.gov