US: The chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Mr Terry McAuliffe, has demanded the release of correspondence between the Justice Department and the White House over the investigation of a former Clinton official for his handling of sensitive documents relating to the 9/11 attacks on America. Conor O'Clery reports from New York
The investigation into former national security adviser Mr Samuel Berger for removing copies of classified documents from the national archives has been going on for at least nine months, he said.
However, it only came to light "three days prior to the release of a report expected to be critical of the Bush administration's lack of focus on the events leading up to the 9/11 attacks".
The final report by the commission investigating the attacks on September 11th, 2001, will be published today and is expected to detail missed opportunities by the Bush administration to prevent the hijacking of aircraft and to criticise its response to warnings about the threat from al-Qaeda.
Mr Berger said yesterday he regretted the way he handled the secret documents, and called the whole thing "an honest mistake". But in the charged atmosphere of a bitter election campaign, Republicans are not prepared to accept that.
"What information could be so embarrassing that a man with decades of experience in handling classified documents would risk being caught pilfering our nation's most sensitive secrets?" asked House Speaker Mr Dennis Hastert.
House Majority Leader Mr Tom DeLay told reporters the case was about "a third-degree burglary" and said: "I think it's gravely, gravely serious what he did, if he did it. It could be a national security crisis."
Mr Berger's lawyer Mr Lanny Bruer retorted: "Never once, in all my discussions with the Justice Department has there been any assertion like that. It was an inadvertent mistake.
"All I can tell you is that when this matter started a year ago, I said to the Department of Justice that we were going to deal with this in good faith, that we wouldn't go to the press and that we wouldn't make this political, and then suddenly, days before the 9/11 commission report comes out, this is leaked."
Mr Berger resigned on Tuesday evening as an informal adviser to Senator John Kerry's presidential campaign to limit the political fallout.
Many Democrats, including former president Bill Clinton, suggest that politics were behind the disclosure in the week of the release of the commission report. "It's interesting timing," Mr Clinton said at a Denver book-signing session.
Democratic suspicions were increased yesterday when it emerged that the White House had been told some time ago by the Justice Department of the investigation.
White House spokesman Mr Scott McClellan did not deny White House involvement, telling reporters: "I'm not sure how this story came out" and "I don't know if the President knew".
In his letter to the Justice Department, Mr McAuliffe raised the possibility "that the Bush administration and the Department of Justice have politicised an ongoing investigation". He asked for all communications involving the case exchanged between the Justice Department and the White House, the Republican National Committee and the Bush-Cheney 2004 presidential campaign.
Mr Berger insisted yesterday that he made an honest mistake when reviewing documents and he had responded to the investigation "fully and completely" in October when the matter had arisen.
The Justice Department is investigating whether Mr Berger committed a crime by removing documents and notes about the Clinton administration's 1999 anti-terrorism efforts in preparation for testimony to the bipartisan 9/11 commission.
Mr Berger acknowledged that he knowingly removed handwritten notes by placing them in his jacket and pants, and inadvertently took copies of actual classified documents in a leather portfolio. He returned most of the documents, but two copies are still missing.
The copies were of documents containing recommendations to President Clinton for dealing with al-Qaeda written by former National Security Council aide Mr Richard Clarke. A spokesman for the commission said the incident had no bearing on the panel's work.
The commission report, compiled after nearly a year and a half investigation, is to be issued at 11.30 a.m. today. It stops short of saying the attacks should have been prevented, according to the Washington Post, which cited officials who have seen the nearly 600-page report.
It reportedly includes a list of 10 "operational opportunities" that the government missed, six during the Bush administration's eight months in office, and four during the Clinton terms.