Craig's List: Obama WH Counsel Pick Reps Accused Soldier Killer & More

Nov. 18, 2008— -- President-elect Barack Obama's likely pick for White House counsel is catching flak for representing, as a Washington lawyer, not only Bill Clinton, but also a former deposed South American leader accused of human rights violations, the man who attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan, and a Panamanian national accused of killing a U.S. serviceman.

Foreign policy experts, newspaper editors and conservatives have weighed in against Gregory Craig, both as a White House appointee and as a campaign adviser to Obama.

The conservative legal group Judicial Watch issued a statement Tuesday blasting Obama's likely pick of Craig, citing his work as lead impeachment counsel to former president Bill Clinton.

"Given his defense of Bill Clinton's lies and obstruction of justice, what sort of legal advice will Mr. Craig give to President Obama? Will it all depend on what the meaning of 'is' is?" said the group's president, Tom Fitton.

Craig has represented West Wing defendants from both parties. In 2006 he represented a policy adviser to president George W. Bush, Claude Allen, who was arrested for running a fraudulent-return racket on a Target store in suburban Maryland. In an agreement hammered out with prosecutors, Allen pled guilty to a single shoplifting count. Allen was sentenced to two years' supervised probation and a small fine.

Neither Craig nor the Obama campaign responded to requests for comment for this story.

Prof. Laurie Levenson, a former criminal prosecutor who now heads the Center for Ethical Advocacy at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, said criticism of Craig based on his client list was "totally unfair."

"That's the role of defense lawyers in our society and under our Constitution," said Levenson. "It's not up to the lawyer to judge the client. . . it's up to the lawyer to give him the best defense he can."