                           THE WHITE HOUSE

                    Office of the Press Secretary
_____________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                  April 21, 1993



                            PRESS BRIEFING
                           BY DEE DEE MYERS


                          The Briefing Room
          
          
9:44 A.M. EDT

          
          Q      There seems to be some contradiction in what the 
evidence shows in terms of Koresh.  I guess Sessions is saying one 
thing and George Stephanopoulos said that there's a preponderance.  
Is there some sort of -- is there a contradiction?
          
          MS. MYERS:  I don't think there's a contradiction.  I 
think that -- I don't think anyone meant to suggest that there was 
contemporaneous information.  There wasn't a particular report, say, 
on Friday or Saturday, which is the point George made this morning.  
There wasn't any one incident that prompted the decision to go ahead 
and try to force the folks out of the compound in Waco.  But there 
was a preponderance of evidence, and I think reason to be concerned 
both about the special FBI unit that was down there negotiating, 
about the health of the children, about their welfare.  I think there 
are a number of factors that contributed to that.  It was unsanitary 
conditions and reasons to be concerned about their health inside as 
well as reports of abuse by Koresh from people who came out of the 
compound.  So I think there were a number of factors that 
contributed.
          THE PRESS:  Thank you. 

                                 END10:08 A.M. EDT

--------------------------------------------------------------------------



                           THE WHITE HOUSE

                    Office of the Press Secretary
_____________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                  April 21, 1993


                            PRESS BRIEFING
                       BY GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS


                          The Briefing Room


2:31 P.M. EDT

          
          Q      George, there's some question on Waco -- let's see 
if we can clear this up.
          
          Q      Fast.
          
          Q      Janet Reno indicated, or the President indicated 
that in his briefing by her, she cited as a primary reason for going 
when they went is fear for the safety of children who it appeared 
were being abused and perhaps further abused.  She has since 
indicated that there was apparently no fresh evidence of further --
          
          MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  A little contemporaneous --
          
          Q         abuse, which raises the question of, that being 
the case, why would that be cited as a primary reason for going then 
as opposed to waiting?
          
          MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  As you know, there were a number of 
factors that the Attorney General, the President and the Director of 
the FBI cited as reasons to move on the compound.  I think that even 
on Tuesday, the Director of the FBI, William Sessions also pointed to 
evidence of child abuse.  And I think there is absolutely no question 
that there is overwhelming evidence of child abuse in the Waco 
compound.  I mean, you had David Koresh marrying children.  You had 
David Koresh sexually abusing children.  You had kids being taught 
how to commit suicide, how to put guns in their mouth, how to clamp 
down on cyanide.  That is child abuse by any definition of the word.  
It was continuing, it was going on. 
          
          As I said, we have no specific evidence that it was 
worse on Saturday or Sunday than it was on Friday.  But there was 
also no expectation that it was going to get better.  I mean, these 
kids were being held, and they were being held hostage, and they were 
clearly not there by choice, and they were murdered by David Koresh.
          
          Q      George, was the President given to believe, perhaps 
that there was fresh evidence of further and continuing child abuse?
          
          MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  The President was clearly told 
about child abuse in the compound.  I do not know whether he was told 
it was specific instances that day, but he was  clearly told that 
there was a concern to protect the children in the compound.  That 
was one of many motivations behind the move on Monday.
          
          Q      George, you're finished, right?  (Laughter.)
          
          MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I'm glad you guys are getting this 
all worked out. 

          
          Q      Is the President doing anything differently as a 
result of Waco?  Has he set into motion any new modus operandi in 
view of what happened in terms of his relationships with the 
Department of Justice or anything else?  And has the investigation 
started actually by Treasury and Justice?  Who's in charge?
          
          MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I assume that the review has begun.  
As you know, the President has called for an investigation headed by 
Justice and the Treasury Department.  They were working out the 
details yesterday, and we expect it to get started very soon.  I 
don't know exactly what minute it's starting, but obviously new 
evidence is coming forward all the time.
          
          Q      Is one person in charge over all of the --
          
          MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  The Attorney General and the 
Treasury Secretary will run the investigation.  I suppose it's 
possible they'll delegate the day-to-day operations to an 
investigator or someone of that sort.  But they have the 
responsibility.
          
          Q      What's the independent oversight that you talked 
about yesterday?  Has that been worked out?
          
          MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I don't have the final details yet.  
I'd send you to Treasury and Justice.  But there will be independent 
non-Justice or Treasury Department officials as part of the review 
process.
          
          Q      George, has this episode done anything to alter the 
administration's faith in experts of this kind who purport to be able 
to make precise calculations of human conduct?  The President seems 
to be taken with such expertise, and so does this Attorney General.  
Has this episode done anything to shake that faith?
          
          MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I don't think you can make blanket 
statements to a response like that.  Obviously, you listen to the 
experts and make your best judgments.  That's what the Attorney 
General did, that's what the President did.
          
          Q      Does it strike anybody as odd, for example, the 
Waco Police Department was not in the group of people that 
participated in this decision?
          
          MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I wasn't aware of that.  I can look 
into that.  But a lot -- it was the unanimous recommendation of the 
law enforcement agencies that we were consulting that we go forward.  
I did not know that the Waco Police Department wasn't --
          
          Q      Is there not also a question raised when you've got 
the compound being guarded, in effect, by a bunch of people who are 
deemed so expert and so indispensable that they cannot even be 
rested, and that that comes forth to the President as one of the 
reasons to hurry up and act because they experts are tired?
          
          MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I'm not certain that that's a fair 
characterization.  I mean --
          
          Q      Well, certainly said that they people were not 
easily replaced and couldn't be stood in for.
          
          MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Absolutely, and that's one of the 
things that the investigation, and certainly the congressional 
hearings, should look into -- the question of what kind of hostage 
rescue operations do we need; how can we assure that we have all the 
resources we need to handle situations like this.  That's exactly 
what the review is designed to look at, these kinds of questions, to 
make sure that in the future we might be able to avoid those kinds of 
questions.  I don't think that this is the time, though, to second-
guess the decisions on the ground.  Let's take the investigation, 
let's listen to what the congressional hearings come up with, and 
let's make the appropriate adjustments at that time.
          
          Q?       George, is there a sense that in the aftermath of 
some of these setbacks -- the Waco business and the jobs bill up on 
the Hill and this frustration over Bosnia -- that the President is 
losing some of the early political momentum he had when he pushed 
through the budget resolution in record time?
          
          MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Well, Wolf, I think we're in this 
for the long haul and the President's going to continue to fight for 
his priorities and he's going to continue to fight on the Hill and we 
look forward to many more victories and successes for the American 
people up on the Hill.  I don't know that I would agree with the 
characterization of your question, but the answer is we're going to 
keep on fighting every day.  
          
          Q      These are setbacks?
          
          MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I mean, the jobs bill isn't done 
yet.  Clearly, we have not gotten all that we wanted.  The President 
will continue to fight.
          
          Q      The outcome of Waco is not what you would have 
wanted, obviously.
          
          MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I don't think the outcome in Waco 
is the outcome that any American would have wanted.  At the same 
time, I don't believe that the outcome in Waco -- the deaths in Waco 
are the responsibility of David Koresh.  Something that I think the 
American people clearly understand.  David Koresh was the murderer in 
Waco; David Koresh is responsible for the lives that were lost.

          
          Q      On Waco, what regrets does the White House have, if 
any, about the President's statements on responsibility and --
          
          MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:   I think that if you take all of 
the statements in context, the President was clearly taking 
responsibility from the start.  I think it's unfortunate the 
perception that got out there and I suppose that if you look back on 
it and say, should the President have had a more public statement on 
Monday night, that might have been better.  
          
          At the same time, the President clearly explained that 
he did not feel it was appropriate until he had certain knowledge of 
what was happening with the lives on the ground that he could go out.  
It was a judgment call.  If it was a mistake, then it's something we 
certainly take responsibility for.  But the President was very clear 
on taking responsibility for the government's actions in this case.  
He was also very clear on the fact that David Koresh must take 
responsibility for the deaths.
          
          Q      What do you hear from the public on this subject, 
if anything, in the comment offices and so forth?  What is the 
feedback?
          
          MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  The only thing I know is what I got 
from the Justice Department and they sent over to us this morning.  
It said that 80 percent of the phone calls and letters were in 
support of the Attorney General.

          
          Q      Back on Waco.  Between the time that the President 
talked to the Attorney General before the fire started and when they 
spoke at midnight, did the Attorney General try and reach the 
President?
          
          MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  No.  
          
          Q      She didn't try to call him at all?
          
          MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I think that there was an exchange 
of phone calls sometime late in the evening between the two of them.  
There was nothing in the afternoon.  But it was just one of those 
games of back and forth, as far as I know.
          
          Q      When did she try to call him?
          
          MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I believe he tried to get word to 
her, she tried to call him.  And I don't know the exact time they 
connected, but I know it was late Monday evening. 
          
          Q      He tried to call her first?
          
          MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Had word to her that he was trying 
to talk to her.  I don't know exactly how the message was relayed. 
          
          Q      Why is it appropriate for her to come out and make 
the public statements, but the President didn't feel it was 
appropriate for him to do it?
          
          MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  It was just something he was 
concerned about.  We were getting a lot of different information at 
the time.  She made the judgment that she wanted to go out and do the 
press conference.  That was clearly, certainly within her power to 
do, and she did a very good job at it.
          
          Q      If it's not appropriate for the President to do it, 
why is it appropriate for the Attorney General to do it?
          
          MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I think that that's a decision that 
she made and a decision that the President supports.  I mean, the 
President said very clearly his reasons.  And I also just said that 
whether that was a mistake on our part is something we have to take 
responsibility for.  But the President has been clear on taking 
responsibility for the government's actions in this case, and he has 
also been clear on supporting the Attorney General on that matter.
          
          I would also point out that even at noon on Monday, from 
this podium when we took responsibility and the President took 
responsibility, that was before anything had even gone wrong, before 
the fires had started.  I mean, we were not distancing ourselves in 
any way, shape or form.
          
          Q      Just back on Waco for a minute -- how does this 
affect the outstanding -- the review that, I guess, is still 
outstanding of Judge Sessions?  Does the President have full 
confidence in him because of his actions during the siege?
          
          MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I don't think there's any 
relationship between the two at all.  The Attorney General has said 
she wanted to have a complete and thorough review of the file and the 
report on Judge Sessions.  And she'll be making a recommendation to 
the President once that's complete.
          
          Q      Was there any discussion, though, of the difficult 
situation he was in during this?  Here you have a guy who's tenure is 
very uncertain directing these events.
          
          MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  No, that wasn't a factor.

          
          THE PRESS:  Thank you.

                                 END                    3:04 P.M. EDT

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