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 For Immediate Release
Nov 12, 1999 Contact: Press Office
202-646-5172


HARVEY BERKMAN & NATIONAL LAW JOURNAL SUED

Failed to Correct Admittedly False Story About Larry Klayman And Lied Yet Again

Liberal Journalist Alleged To Be Part of Clinton Smear Operation

(Washington, D.C.) Harvey Berkman, a reporter for The National Law Journal, a tabloid newspaper loved by liberal trial lawyers and judges, was sued on Wednesday, and served with the complaint yesterday, for a maliciously factually false story he wrote about Larry Klayman of Judicial Watch in the November 8, 1999 edition. The complaint alleges that the libelous story was written with the assistance of agents for the Clintons. Recently, Bill Clinton threatened Larry Klayman at a press conference, emotionally exploding that Klayman is the instigator of the "Larry Klayman political press world" against him and Mrs.Clinton. The strategy of Clinton operatives for years has been to try to harm Klayman's reputation with the judges before whom cases are pending against the President and Mrs.Clinton. Along with David Segal's "Washington Hearsay" Column in The Washington Post's weekly Business Section, who was also sued this week, The National Law Journal is another conduit to try to carry out this tactic.

Klayman had asked for a retraction and correction of the admittedly false story, which was plastered on the front page of The National Law Journal, and was initially told that this would be done, along with the publication of his letter to the editor. See www.judicialwatch.org. However, rather than making any correction on the front page, and publishing the entire text of the letter to the editor, as Klayman demanded, The National Law Journal grossly edited and censored Klayman's letter, without his permission, published it in an obscure back page of the newspaper, and failed to make the required corrections. Through his counsel, Klayman made it clear that if the newspaper did not make front page corrections, and publish the entire letter to the editor, suit would follow. Being true to his word, Berkman, the editor-in-chief, and The National Law Journal were sued by Klayman on Wednesday.

Earlier in the week, Klayman had written a debut column in the internet magazine "WordNetDaily.com" explaining how leftist journalists, like Berkman and Segal, have, over the years, written similar false columns as shills for the Clinton Administration. The article of Tuesday, November 9, 1999, can also be found archived on "WorldNet Daily.com" or non-archived at www.judicialwatch.org. See www.judicialwatch.org. for complaints.

"I believe in a free press," stated Klayman. "However, when so-called journalists intentionally and maliciously distort facts, acting as dishonest shills and hacks for politicians, they have to answer like everyone else to the legal system. No one is above the law, " he added.

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