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From @lex-luthor.ai.mit.edu:jcma@REAGAN.AI.MIT.EDU Tue Apr 20 19:07:26 1993
Date: Tue, 20 Apr 1993 16:42-0400
From: The White House <75300.3115@compuserve.com>
Subject: AM Press Briefing by Dee Dee Myers 4.20.93
To: Clinton-News-Distribution@campaign92.org
Status: OR
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_____________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release April 20, 1993
PRESS BRIEFING
BY DEE DEE MYERS
The Briefing Room
9:47 A.M. EDT
MS. MYERS: Okay, today's schedule. As you know, the
President jogged this morning with Senator Wofford.
At 1:15 p.m., he will have a photo opportunity in the
Rose Garden to present the Teacher of the Year Award. At 1:30 p.m.,
he will meet with his principal advisors on Bosnia. And at 5:00
p.m., he'll meet with President Vaclav Havel. There will be a photo
op at the top of that meeting; no formal press conference afterwards.
Any questions?
Q Is he moving towards some major decision this week
on Bosnia?
MS. MYERS: As we've said, he's continuing to discuss
his options. He's been talking extensively with his foreign policy
advisors, his Bosnia advisors, as well as with other world leaders.
He'll try to contact President Mitterrand again today, and he'll
continue to discuss it. We don't have any specific timetable, but
obviously the situation there is very serious.
Q Has he called Janet Reno today or yesterday?
MS. MYERS: I don't believe he's spoken to her today.
Q Why does he have nothing to say about this publicly
except on the piece of paper that was put out last night at 6:40
p.m.?
MS. MYERS: He did. He answered a question about it
yesterday.
Q Before anything had happened.
MS. MYERS: Before anything happened. He put out --
Q Since something has happened he's had nothing to
say.
MS. MYERS: He's put out a statement on it last night.
And we'll have more to say about it later today.
Q In what forum is that going to be?
MS. MYERS: It will be at the photo in the Rose Garden.
Q He will talk about Waco at that?
MS. MYERS: Yes, he'll have something to say.
Q Is that something we can take live?
MS. MYERS: I think it will be brief. We can talk a
little later about the exact structure as we work it out. But I
don't know if it's something you'd want to take live.
Q Will he take questions on Waco at that time as
well?
MS. MYERS: He'll probably take a few.
Q Is there any reason why he hasn't talked to the
Attorney General?
MS. MYERS: I'll have to double-check. I don't know
that he hasn't talked to her this morning.
Q And she didn't come here this morning to see him or
anyone else?
MS. MYERS: No.
Q And he didn't talk yesterday?
Q What's the reaction to her resignation statement
that she made last night?
MS. MYERS: She was asked a question about it, and she
answered the question. The President has absolutely no intention of
asking for the Attorney General's resignation. He stands behind her
100 percent. As you know, he was informed about the decision. He
takes full responsibility for that, and stands 100 percent behind
Attorney General Reno.
Q The question now arises -- yesterday we were told
that he was briefed on this, but we never got a firm idea of how much
he knew of what the plan was and the justification for the plan and
the justification of the timing. Was he fully informed on all of
that, all of this about the increasing levels of violence inside the
compound that made them want to go now, the feeling that nothing else
was going to succeed, et cetera?
MS. MYERS: He talked with the Attorney General about
the decision, about -- she talked to him about the factors that led
to her decision. He raised no objections. He supports her decision
to go forward with it. He was fully briefed.
Q Of course, hindsight is 20-20, but looking back
now, does the President, does the White House feel that the decision
he signed off on proved to be the right way to go when you look at
what actually happened?
MS. MYERS: I think everybody feels bad when life is
lost. But I don't think that that is reason to second-guess the
decision. He stands behind the decision that was made. He was
informed about it. He was fully briefed about it and he stands 100
percent behind the Attorney General, the Justice Department and the
FBI. It's a difficult operation and there's -- it had already gone
on for more than seven weeks. Four federal agents had lost their
lives in the line of duty -- let's not forget that.
This was a very difficult situation and all the
decisions involved were very difficult. But all the agents on the
ground, the FBI, the Justice Department all recommended moving
forward with this. They thought, given the circumstances, it was the
best possible course of action. There's just no point in second-
guessing those decisions. Now, I think that there's a reason --
Q Why not? They have to --
MS. MYERS: No, not to second-guess the decisions. I
think it's important to take a look at it, to have an investigation.
I think the President will talk some about that later today. But at
this -- from this vantage point, to second-guess those decisions,
it's not useful.
Q You sound like he's going to order an investigation
of what happened and whether --
MS. MYERS: I think he'll have more to say about that
later, yes.
Q He will order an investigation?
MS. MYERS: He'll have more -- yes -- he'll have more to
say about an investigation.
Q What kind of investigation?
MS. MYERS: He'll have more to say about it later.
Q But in the Monday morning quarterbacking, surely
there is some soul-searching now as to whether it was the right
decision. You can't say that we did the best we could when it turned
out to be a rather -- a debacle.
MS. MYERS: I think we'll -- obviously, we'll review
the situation and all the factors that lead to a very tragic outcome.
I don't think anybody disputes that the outcome was tragic. But,
again, the President stands behind the decisions that were made and
we'll take a look at the factors that contributed to that.
Q What was the FBI Director's role in this?
MS. MYERS: Well, he was obviously involved in setting
up the operation. He signed off on it, as did the agents that were
on the ground that were working with him. I don't believe he spoke
to the President, but I'll double-check that.
Q But he was very closely involved in every aspect of
planning and so forth?
MS. MYERS: I would refer you to the FBI on exactly what
aspects he was involved with.
Q Will Janet Reno be coming over to the White House
today?
MS. MYERS: There's no planned meeting. I don't believe
that she'll be here.
Q She won't be at this event at 1:15 p.m.?
MS. MYERS: No, no plans to be.
Q Do you think that there's going to be a jumping on
on the part of political opposition to make something out of this in
terms of -- to the President's detriment politically?
MS. MYERS: Well, I would certainly hope that people
wouldn't try to use this tragedy for political reasons. Obviously, I
think, again, that it's useful to look at the facts, to reevaluate
the facts, and I think the President will move forward with that.
But I think people understand that this was a difficult series of
decisions; that it was a very difficult situation; that it was caused
by a man who was a cult leader who was involved in the death of four
federal agents. And I think it's most tragic that a lot of innocent
children lost their lives in this. I don't think anybody disputes
the tragedy of the outcome.
Q Dee Dee, what was the White House role in handling
the, I guess, public relations aspect in the aftermath? Who was
talking -- who here at the White House was talking with people at
Justice to set up Reno's news conference, to do all that sort of
thing?
MS. MYERS: I think the Attorney General handled her end
of the situation herself and made the decision to go ahead with the
news conference once there was a point at which there was enough
information, I think, to talk with some accuracy about what had
transpired during the day. Obviously, people here at a number of
levels were keeping in touch with people at the Justice Department
and at the FBI to try to keep informed about what was happening
there.
Q But Reno said that she didn't talk to the
President, and there seemed to be an indication she hadn't talked to
anybody at the White House. So who --
MS. MYERS: There were people talking on a staff-to-
staff level.
Q I understand. But who at the Justice Department
was handling that for Reno? Who was talking to the White House?
MS. MYERS: There were a number of people. As you know,
Webb Hubbell is the liaison to the White House, and I know he talked
to a number of people here. There were a number of people at a
number of different levels involved. I don't want to get into
exactly who had what conversations with whom, but there were a number
of conversations. Obviously, the Justice Department was working to
keep the White House informed, the press informed to the best of its
ability as events unfolded throughout the day.
Q Did Webb Hubbell talk to the President?
MS. MYERS: I don't believe so. I don't know if he
talked -- he may have at one point.
Q And was the White House role just to seek
information about what happened, or was it to direct the public
information campaign that followed?
MS. MYERS: It was both to keep abreast of the situation
so the President could be on top of it, but I think the Justice
Department managed its press relations on it. We were obviously very
interested in what was happening there throughout the day, and the
President was following it very closely throughout the day.
Q Dee Dee, on that, though, if the President was
following it so closely and he had talked the night before with Janet
Reno, why wouldn't he talk to her at all since then?
MS. MYERS: Again, I don't know if he's talked to her
this morning. Again, he's kept fully aware of what has been going on
throughout the day. He stands 100 percent behind her decisions.
He's been fully supportive of her, as he said yesterday morning
before events transpired and yesterday afternoon in a written
statement.
Q But wouldn't he want to convey those thoughts to
her personally yesterday?
MS. MYERS: One more time, I don't know if they've
spoken this morning.
Q No, yesterday.
Q Clearly there's a perception that she was left hung
out to dry all day yesterday.
MS. MYERS: That's just not true. I think we said
throughout the day that the President takes full responsibility, that
he stands -- I don't know how much clearer we can be. The President
stands foursquare behind the Attorney General on this. He accepts
full responsibility for the events that transpired. He believes that
Janet Reno, the Justice Department, and the FBI acted as best they
could, given the circumstances and the facts that were evident at the
time. I don't know what else he can say to show that he supports her
1,000 percent.
Q One of the best indications of that is to pick up
the phone and tell her.
MS. MYERS: Again, I don't know whether they've spoken
this morning.
Q Why can't we find out?
MS. MYERS: Well, we can. I can't do it standing here
right now.
Q You've got six people here. All they've got to do
is pick up the phone.
MS. MYERS: Helen, we'll get back to you.
Q Dee Dee, when the President spoke with the Attorney
General on Sunday, is it safe to assume that either she volunteered
or he inquired about whether there was a possible downside to
increasing pressure on the Davidians?
MS. MYERS: I think that they discussed the situation.
Again, I'm not going to get into the specific details of what exactly
she told him, but I think that he was aware of the risks involved.
Q Dee Dee, the President yesterday morning said it
was entirely her decision. She then said that she told him what was
happening and he said, okay. Does the President regard it that he
gave the go-ahead or that she gave the go-ahead?
MS. MYERS: I think what they both said yesterday was
that she made a decision based on all the available facts. She
informed him about that and he raised no objections. Again, I don't
know how much clearer we can be about that.
Q And he said, okay. The issue is over the
responsibility.
MS. MYERS: He said, okay.
Q Does okay mean --
MS. MYERS: The President accepts ultimate
responsibility.
Q Dee Dee, the President's investigation that he's
going to announce -- would that be conducted by someone outside the
administration?
MS. MYERS: No.
Q It would be internal -- is it meant to preclude any
congressional investigation?
MS. MYERS: No, it's meant simply to follow up on the
incidents that occurred yesterday.
Q And you would, I assume, therefore, cooperate fully
with any congressional hearings that would be held?
MS. MYERS: To the best of our ability.
Q Dee Dee, there are two reports out this morning.
One that the Justice Department, or FBI, or whomever, apparently had
a bug planted inside the complex. And the other is that the children
may have been injected with some kind of poison that may have either
left them unconscious or maybe even killed them before the fire.
What do you know about those two --
MS. MYERS: Nothing more than I've seen in news accounts
this morning. We may get more on it later, but at this point, I know
-- I'm not sure anybody knows any more than what was reported by
people who came out of the compound.
Q Has the President received any report today in
terms of fatalities and actually what was going on -- what they've
been able to find out on in the compound now?
MS. MYERS: He's been briefed. I don't think that
they've gotten into the compound yet. They were still waiting for it
to cool off. I don't think there's much beyond what's been reported
in the news accounts. But he has been kept up-to-date on it.
Q Dee Dee, the President stands behind Attorney
General Reno, but does he feel that she perhaps got bad advice from
the so-called experts?
MS. MYERS: He believes that she made -- he stands
behind the decision that she made. It was the unanimous decision of
her advisors, of the FBI, of the agents on the ground, and he
supports that.
Q What about the validity of the decisions made on
the ground? Does he back those --
MS. MYERS: He's not going to second-guess decisions
made.
Q Dee Dee, you just said, he stands behind the
decision which she made. Normally, in a situation like this, the
President says, I made the decision. But you're saying she made the
decision?
MS. MYERS: I'm saying that the President was briefed
about the decision. He okayed it and he accepts full responsibility
for it.
Q But then why do you keep using the terminology, the
decision that she made, rather than the decision that he made --
MS. MYERS: Because, as he said yesterday, she evaluated
the facts based on evidence presented to her by Justice Department
and FBI, which is part of the Justice Department, and made a decision
and then briefed the President on that decision. That is how the
chain of command works. She briefed him. He signed off on it. The
operation went forward, and the President accepts full
responsibility.
Q In that chain of command analogy there, I want to
go back to Sessions a moment. Do you know if this was a plan that
came through him to Reno, or was it presented to her around him or
with his involvement? What was his involvement?
MS. MYERS: Again, you'd have to go to the Justice
Department for the specific interaction between the Attorney General
and the Director.
Q Does the President stand behind Director Sessions?
MS. MYERS: He supports -- again, I don't know how many
different ways I can say this -- he supports the decisions made by
the Justice Department and the FBI. He fully supports the Attorney
General in this. I'm not stepping away from the Director of the FBI,
I want to -- but Janet Reno is the one who briefed him, the one who
made the decisions as the head of the Justice Department. As you
know, the Director of the FBI reports to the Attorney General. The
Attorney General made the decision. She informed the President about
those decisions. He okayed it. He didn't raise any objections to
it, and he accepts full responsibility.
Q Do you have, based on what you know here at the
White House, any concerns about William Sessions' performance during
this --
MS. MYERS: Nothing to suggest that, no.
Q Along those same lines, just in your initial review
of the situation, how much do you think the problems might have come
from not having a Justice Department that's fully staffed and having
an FBI Director who is still quite uncertain about his status?
MS. MYERS: I just don't think that had anything to do
with it. I think the agents on the ground -- the operation went
forward. I'm not going to speculate on that.
Q Did the White House express any alarm that Janet
Reno chose to speak to the live network media before she chose to
speak to Clinton?
MS. MYERS: No. She was carrying forward her
responsibility to inform the public about the events of yesterday. I
think she did a very admirable job. The President agrees with that.
Q Before Sunday, how often was the President briefed
on the situation in Waco?
MS. MYERS: He was kept updated on a regular basis, on a
daily basis.
Q Who briefed the President?
MS. MYERS: Well, I'm not going to get into exactly who,
what conversations he had with whom, but he was kept up-to-date on
the events in Waco. He has daily briefings on a number of issues.
Q No, no, was this a regular briefing conducted by a
White House staff person, or was it by a Justice Department person?
MS. MYERS: He's briefed regularly by a White House
staff on a number of issues. Again, I'm not going to get into
exactly who briefs him on what subjects.
Q Another subject?
Q On another subject.
Q Now we're going to do gays in the military.
(Laughter.)
MS. MYERS: I welcome it.
Q How close are you to signing the biodiversity
treaty?
MS. MYERS: As you know, the President's giving a speech
on Earth Day tomorrow. We'll have more to say about it then.
Q Any details on where or when that speech is yet?
MS. MYERS: It's at 11:30 a.m. and I don't know where
yet.
Q Dee Dee, is this a major policy address? How would
you characterize the speech tomorrow?
MS. MYERS: I would characterize it as a Earth Day
speech. I wouldn't look for any major departures from his past
positions on these things. But, again, I don't want to get too much
into what he's going to talk about tomorrow.
Q On or off campus?
Q Is this at a location outside the White House?
MS. MYERS: It will be somewhere in Washington. We
don't know exactly where yet.
Q Dee Dee, what foreign leaders has the President
talked to since Friday on the situation in Bosnia?
MS. MYERS: Only Prime Minister Major. And again, he'll
try to reach President Mitterrand again this morning.
Q David Owen said yesterday and Joe Biden said today
-- both of them agree that the peace process is not going to work,
that the Serbs are not going to sign on. Does the administration
still believe that it can work and that they will sign on?
MS. MYERS: Obviously, the ultimate goal is some sort of
peaceful resolution to the conflict in Bosnia. As you know, the
administration is considering a wide variety of options at this
point. The situation there in and around Srebrenica and the rest of
Eastern Bosnia is quite serious. And the President will meet with
his Bosnian advisors today and continue to press forward on this.
Q Is that a question they're going to try to be
deciding whether or not the peace plan remains viable?
MS. MYERS: Again, they'll be reviewing a number of
options, including the peace plan.
Q Does the group that he's meeting with today include
Reg Bartholomew?
MS. MYERS: I don't believe he's here. But it will be
among the usual -- Secretary Christopher, Secretary Aspin, General
Powell.
Q Dee Dee, do you have anything on the apparent
encounter by U.S. F-15s over Bosnia today -- some aircraft violating
the no-fly zone?
MS. MYERS: No, I don't. I'll get back to you on that.
Q Will the President be meeting with every one of the
leaders coming to town for the Holocaust Museum?
MS. MYERS: He will. He'll be meeting, as you know,
with Vaclav Havel today and with Lech Walesa tomorrow, and then with
the rest of the group tomorrow afternoon.
Q As a group, or one by one?
MS. MYERS: I believe it's as a group. Now, Havel and
Walesa asked for meetings early and these have been on the agenda for
quite some time. But he will meet with all of the foreign heads of
state that are here.
Q Dee Dee, has the President decided whether he
supports the gay and lesbian civil rights act? And has anything been
worked out for him to address the march on Sunday?
MS. MYERS: I think he'll probably have a letter or some
kind of a statement to the march. We haven't worked out the exact
details of that.
Q Not a live phone hook-up?
MS. MYERS: Probably not, given the logistics of getting
to Boston. The speech, as you know, is at 4:00 p.m. The answer to
the other part of your question is, no, he hasn't taken a position on
it.
Q You said that speech in Boston was at 4:00 p.m.?
MS. MYERS: I believe so, yes.
Q Do you know what it's on?
MS. MYERS: We'll still working out --
Q General Vessey's coming back tonight from Vietnam.
When will he be meeting with the President?
MS. MYERS: No specific meeting is scheduled. We'll
talk to him at some point and see. We look forward to his report,
but exactly how he'll make that report is unclear.
Q So he's not going to come immediately to the White
House?
MS. MYERS: No.
Q The AIDS czar -- how close are you?
MS. MYERS: Still working on it.
Q Drug czar?
Q Do you expect it before the march?
MS. MYERS: I don't have a time line on it.
Q Did the President ask Senator Mitchell to try the
Lloyd Cutler ploy to break the filibuster?
MS. MYERS: I don't believe so.
Q Why not?
MS. MYERS: He's just not going to.
Q Are Senate Democrats here at this hour?
MS. MYERS: No, that's tomorrow -- tomorrow at 9:30 a.m.
Q Update on the stimulus, possible scaling down --
MS. MYERS: As you know, the Senate will vote on
amendments today. We'll continue to talk. The President is
committed to some kind of a jobs package; we'd like to see it passed.
And we'll continue in conversations throughout the day and see where
we end up.
Q When this briefing is over can you give us word
through the speaker or whatever whether the President's talked to
Janet Reno?
MS. MYERS: We'll be happy to.
Q It's become a pressing question for the last
several hours.
MS. MYERS: No, just this minute that I've been here,
and I haven't had a chance to follow up on it, Helen.
Q Does he have an opinion on Hatfield?
MS. MYERS: I mean, obviously, he prefers -- he offered
a compromise package of $12.2 billion. He believes that that's the
best alternative, believes that he's obviously willing to take a
second look at the package. And I think the Senate will vote on that
today, and we're hopeful that the President's bill, which will be the
Mitchell amendment, will be the one that will be approved.
Q Dee Dee, is there any White House official that
will be at the march on Sunday?
MS. MYERS: Somebody will be there representing the
President. I don't know who yet.
Q Well, has it been decided how he's going to
address? Is it going to be a videotape or a phone call?
MS. MYERS: I think it will probably be a letter, but
there hasn't been a final decision on that yet.
Q The official will read the letter, is that what it
sounds like?
MS. MYERS: Correct.
Q Lloyd Bentsen came in here this morning. Do you
know what was that about? Was that about this Waco thing?
MS. MYERS: No, actually it wasn't. It may have come
up, but it was about economic issues.
Q On health care -- is the 17th of May still the
target?
MS. MYERS: That's still the target.
Q And there's talk about a Joint Session of Congress
speech at the end of May --
MS. MYERS: We haven't resolved exactly how the
President will present the health care plan to the people. I
wouldn't rule that out as an option, but no decisions have been made.
END10:08 A.M. EDT
