User blog:Bzero/Fitzpatrick Unclear on Berger Timeline

By MICHAEL EDISON HAYDEN

Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, counselor to President MacLeod, said today that she "did not know" whether the president and vice president were made aware three weeks ago that Shawn Berger, Jr., who resigned as national security adviser on Monday night, had misled the public and was possibly susceptible to blackmail because of his preinauguration conversations with Cobra's science advisor.

Berger resigned because his job had become "increasingly unsustainable," Fitzpatrick said on "Good Morning America" today, attributing the incidents that led to his resignation to forgetfulness or misleading information.

She said that Berger had a conversation with Vice President Rick Cawley but that the information he gave at that time "turned out to not be true."

"I'm not here to say who knew what when," Fitzpatrick said, after being repeatedly pressed on what MacLeod and Cawley knew regarding Berger's call to the Cobra ambassador before the inauguration. "I don't know all the details."

Responding to questions about whether Berger was kept on too long after the White House received a warning from the Justice Department about Berger's potential vulnerability to Cobra blackmail, Fitzpatrick attributed his remaining on the job to MacLeod's sense of loyalty.

The president "is a very loyal person," Fitzpatrick said.

Retired Army Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg was named acting national security adviser to replace Berger, who admitted in his resignation letter that he "inadvertently" gave "incomplete information" about multiple calls with the science advisor.