9/11 Panel Clintonista Got Special Access to PDBs

A former Clinton administration official who sits on the 9/11 Commission has been granted special access to key evidence denied to other 9/11 Commissioners, despite that fact that she has a pronounced conflict of interest in the case.

"I'm the only commissioner aside from the chairman and vice chairman who has seen all the [Presidential Daily Briefings]," 9/11 panel member Jamie Gorelick told MSNBC Thursday night.

Gorelick said she had gotten an advanced look at the Aug. 6, 2001 PDB warning that Osama bin Laden wanted to attack the U.S.

Gorelick was the Clinton administration's deputy attorney general under Janet Reno, who repeatedly urged the White House not to attack bin Laden after the bombings of the USS Cole and two U.S. embassies in East Africa.

Reno also is said to have advised President Clinton to turn down an offer from Sudan for bin Laden's extradition to the U.S. in 1996, because he could not legally be held under U.S. statutes according to her interpretation of the law.

Gorelick has never publicly explained what, if any, role she played in Justice Department recommendations that bin Laden not be dealt with more forcefully prior to the 9/11 attacks.

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