Justice Department prosecutors reportedly have rejected several offers from former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger's lawyer to resolve the department's eight-month-long investigation into his illegal removal of top secret documents from the 9/11 Commission's reading room.
Two sources associated with the investigation told CNN that lawyer Lanny Breuer made a detailed statement of Berger's view of the facts at issue several months ago.
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According to the unnamed sources, Berger has offered to talk to the Justice Department about a resolution to the probe.
In the intervening months, Breuer has renewed Berger's offer to come clean several times.
But in a bad omen for the former top Clinton national security official, the Justice Department has rebuffed the offer repeatedly and refused to enter into any discussions.
Instead, Deputy Attorney General James Comey warned Tuesday that Berger - who resigned hours ago as a top campaign adviser to presidential candidate John Kerry - could face jail time.
"It is against the law for anyone to intentionally mishandle classified information, either by taking it to give to somebody else, or by mishandling in a way that is outside the regulations of government information," Comey told reporters in Washington.
"We take issues of classified information very, very seriously," he added.
"It's our lifeblood to keep secrets. All felonies in the federal system bring with them the promise of jail time," Comey stressed, adding cryptically, "That's all I can say about that."
As U.S. Attorney for New York's Southern District, Comey oversaw the indictment of Martha Stewart for lying to federal investigators. Stewart was sentenced to five months in jail last week.
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