If Hardball's Chris Matthews cares so much about 47 Republican senators supposedly violating the Logan Act of 1799, why did he bring on his program to discuss the matter a man who pleaded guilty to smuggling out top-secret documents from a secure government facility?
As part of his ongoing campaign to slam Republican senators as nefarious lawbreakers, Chris Matthews welcomed former Clinton national security adviser Sandy Berger on to his Wednesday, March 12 program. "It's a very dangerous game, and once this precedent has been set, it's out there in the public system. And, again, I don't know how you expect President Obama to drive the best deal possible if the other side isn't sure he can live up to his commitments," Berger complained.
Of course, at no point did Matthews remind viewers of Berger's scrape with the feds which resulted in him paying a hefty fine to Uncle Sam, serving probation, and having his security clearances revoked for a few years. From a September 8, 2005 article at CNN.com:
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former National Security Adviser Sandy Berger was sentenced Thursday to community service and probation and fined $50,000 for illegally removing highly classified documents from the National Archives and intentionally destroying some of them.
Berger must perform 100 hours of community service and pay the fine as well as $6,905 for the administrative costs of his two-year probation, a district court judge ruled.
"I deeply regret the actions that I took at the National Archives two years ago, and I accept the judgment of the court," Berger said outside the courthouse after his sentencing.
"I'm glad that the 9/11 commission has made clear that it received all the documents that it sought, all the documents that it needed, and I'm pleased to finally have this matter resolved," he added.
Berger reached a plea deal with federal prosecutors in April to avoid a jail sentence.
At that time, he said the reason he took the documents was so he could prepare himself and others to assist the 9/11 commission, which investigated the circumstances surrounding the 2001 terrorist attacks and published a report of its findings last year.
The documents taken by Berger dealt with the terror threats during the 2000 millennium celebration, according to parties in the case.
According to the charges, Berger -- between September 2 and October 2, 2003 -- "knowingly removed classified documents from the National Archives and Records Administration and stored and retained such documents at places," such as his private Washington office.
Shortly after the Berger segment, Matthews welcomed on guest Matthew VanDyke, an American who previously fought with rebels in Libya to oust Qadhafi and who has since founded Sons of Liberty International, which he described as "a group that employs military veterans from the United States to train local Christian troops on the ground in Iraq so that they can take the fight to ISIS."
"Very few people impress me. You do sir," Matthews noted as he started the interview. "I guess you're doing great work. I don't see anything wrong with it, but, take care," Matthews wished VanDyke when he closed the interview.
While VanDyke's efforts are certainly commendable, they are also technically illegal, notes CNN:
U.S. law enforcement officials say it's illegal for an American to join a Syrian militia, just as it is for an American to join ISIS.
According to intelligence estimates, more than 100 of the foreign fighters for ISIS in Syria have come from the United States.
Even if joining a pro-Western, anti-ISIS militia while retaining one's American citizenship is legal -- or at least an offense the Obama DOJ would gladly overlook as a matter of prosecutorial discretion -- there's no doubt that it presents all kinds of diplomatic and legal headaches for the president of the United States and the United States government as a whole, particularly in the event an American is captured alive by ISIS.
Again, as much as one may appreciate VanDyke's work, and I do, it is quite telling that Matthews is perfectly content to lob specious Logan Act charges at 47 U.S. senators but seem utterly unconcerned with how freelance American fighters overseas might negatively impact the national security or diplomatic interests of the United States.
