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.