Greg Craig

Gregory Bestor Craig (born Norfolk, Virginia, March 4, 1945) is a Washington-based lawyer. He has represented numerous high-profile clients, including the would-be assassin of President Ronald Reagan. As assistant to the President and special counsel in the White House of President Bill Clinton, Craig directed the team defending Clinton against impeachment. He was a foreign policy advisor to Senator Edward Kennedy and to United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. More recently Craig became foreign policy adviser to presidential candidate Barack Obama. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7527668.stm BBC interview retrieved 28 July 2008.]

Early years

Craig is the son of William G. Craig, a university educator, who died in 2005. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/11/national/11craig.html "New York Times" Mar. 11, 2005 obituary of William G. Craig.] ] He went to Philips Exeter Academy, then graduated in the class of 1967 of Harvard, and attended Cambridge University. On graduating in 1971 from Yale Law School, where he met Bill Clinton and Hillary Rodham, [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9400E2DB1131F935A2575AC0A96E958260&scp=5&sq=Gregory++B+Craig&st=nyt "New York Times" article from Sept. 16, 1998 providing a biography of Mr. Craig.] ] Craig joined the Washington-based law firm Williams & Connolly, where he is now a partner. [ [http://www.wc.com/attorney.cfm?attorney_id=261 Greg Craig's personal web page at Williams & Connolly website.] ]

Government service

Craig served as Senator Edward Kennedy’s Senior Advisor on Defense, Foreign Policy and National Security issues for five years (1984-88).

In 1997 Secretary of State Madeleine Albright made Craig one of her senior advisors, and he served as Director of Policy Planning from 1997–98. In late 1997 he was appointed as a special coordinator to focus attention on China's suppression of Tibet's cultural and religious traditions. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06E2D91630F932A35752C1A961958260&scp=101&sq=Gregory++B+Craig&st=nyt "New York Times" article of Nov. 1, 1997 on Craig's appointment.] ]

In September 1998 President Clinton appointed Craig as Assistant to the President and Special Counsel in the White House, where he directed the President’s team defending against impeachment. He was also a member of the President’s trial team in the United States Senate.

Controversial clients

Craig has had numerous controversial and high-profile clients. In 1981, he represented John Hinckley, Jr., who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. He was the architect of Hinckley's successful insanity defense. [ [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_9_52/ai_61892064 "National Review" article of May 22, 2000 by John J. Miller.] ]

Craig represented former boss Senator Edward Kennedy during the 1991 rape trial of William Kennedy Smith. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE2DA163AF932A35752C1A967958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1 "New York Times" article of Nov. 1, 1991 stating that Gregory B. Craig represented Senator Edward Kennedy during the trial of his nephew William Kennedy Smith.] ]

He represented the Cuban father of Elián González during the 2000 child custody dispute that ended in the forcible seizure by U.S. Marshals of Elián González from the Miami, Florida home of his relatives. [ [http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0004/22/bn.12.html Transcript of April 22, 2000 CNN interview with attorney Craig on seizure of Elián González.] ]

Craig represented United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan during the Volker Commission's investigations in 2004 into the scandals involving the oil-for-food programme.

Most recently, he has represented Pedro Miguel González Pinzón, a Panamanian legislator wanted in the US for the murder in 1992 of a US soldier, and the attempted murder of another. The "Dallas Morning News" called on Senator Obama to ask Craig to choose between the campaign and involvement in the case. [ [http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/opinion/editorials/stories/DN-panama_14edi.ART.State.Edition1.3788f3d.html "Dallas Morning News" editorial of January 14, 2008 on Obama's ties to González Pinzón's attorney.] ] Craig had earlier represented the Panamá government during the trial in 1990 of the former president, General Manuel Noriega [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE5D71230F932A15755C0A966958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1 "New York Times" article of June 21, 1990 stating that Attorney Craig sought to block the use of funds stolen from Panamá as a source for Noriega's defense.] ] and had sought the return to Panamá's treasury of funds stolen by Noriega.

Craig & the Obama presidential campaign

Because of his close ties to the Clintons, when Craig declared his support of Senator Barack Obama's presidential ambitions in March 2007, it attracted widespread attention. [ [http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/01/28/080128fa_fact_packer "New Yorker" article of Jan. 28, 2008 about Craig's support of Obama.] ] [ [http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/03/another_hillary_defector_mccai.html Robert Novak article posted to "RealClearPolitics" on Mar. 3, 2007.] ]

FISA controversy

As a spokesman for the Obama campaign, Craig dealt with the senator's reversal of an earlier commitment to filibuster the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/02/us/politics/02fisa.htm "New York Times" article of July 2, 2008 quoting Craig, in his role as Obama spokesperson, on Obama's shift from an earlier committment to "filibuster any legislation" to his present position in support of the legislation.] ] Craig's explanation of the apparent turn-around included a statement that Obama had "concluded that with FISA expiring, it was better to get a compromise than let the law expire." This drew the criticism that Obama and/or his legal advisors had mistakenly supposed that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act was due to expire in the first place. [ [http://utdocuments.blogspot.com/2008/07/e-mail-to-obama-adviser-greg-craig.html "Salon.com" FISA commenter Glenn Greenwald email to Greg Craig questioning apparent legal mis-statements, pointing out FISA was not expiring.] ]

Debate prep

In 2008, Craig played the part of John McCain to help prepare Barack Obama for his first debate against the Republican nominee. He had played a similar role, "playing" President George W. Bush in mock debates to coach Democratic nominee John Kerry for his three general election match-ups against the incumbent in 2004. [ [http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/21/obama-mccain-debate-prep-underway/ CNN: Debate prep underway] ]

Personal life

Craig is married to Derry Noyes, a graphic designer who has designed several postage stamps for the United States Postal Service. [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/craig111998.htm "Washington Post" article of Nov. 19, 1998.] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.c-span.org/rss/video.asp?MediaID=33972 30-minute video interview, on Dec. 24, 2007, with Greg Craig on C-SPAN about Senator Obama's foreign policy.]
* [http://www.charlierose.com/guests/greg-craig Video interview of Greg Craig from an Aug. 2007 episode of "The Charlie Rose Show" on topic of Senator Obama's statements with respect to Pakistan.]

See also

* Impeachment of Bill Clinton
* Elián González affair
* Panamá
* NSA warrantless surveillance controversy