THE WHITE HOUSE

                    Office of the Press Secretary
_____________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                  April 20, 1993


                            PRESS BRIEFING
                       BY GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS

	     
                          The Briefing Room


12:36 P.M. EDT
	     
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  As you know, the President is going 
to come out at 1:15 p.m.  With your indulgence, I think what we'd 
like to do is have the President award the National Teacher's Award 
first and then have the teacher leave, or whatever, and then he'll 
make a statement on Waco and take a couple questions.  So if we can 
just hold off going live and all that until that's done, it probably 
will work out a lot better. 
	     
	     Q	  If you'll give us the time.  That's the problem.
	     
	     Q	  We've got a two-minute warning problem.
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Yes, it is a problem.  It's about 
1:15 p.m.
	     
	     Q	  The teacher would walk off and then --
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I think that's -- I'm just trying 
to work this out here.  I think that's the best way to handle it.
	     
	     Q	  Can I ask you a series of questions about the way 
the President handled the notifications yesterday? 
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Sure.
	     
	     Q	  Did you, for instance, talk to the Justice 
Department about who would come out and discuss what had happened in 
Waco and whether it should be the Attorney General or the President?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Why don't we just take a step even 
farther back from that and look at the whole sequence of events on 
the contact between the Justice Department and the White House.  As 
you know and as we've said, the President spoke with the Attorney 
General on Sunday, Sunday afternoon.  They had a good discussion, 
about 15 minutes.  The Attorney General informed the President of 
what she wanted to do.  He raised no objections.  Obviously, she had 
the implicit authority from the President to go forward.  He raised 
no objections.  She went forward.  They had a discussion of a general 
nature about the incident.
	     
	     Again, yesterday morning around 11:00 a.m., the 
President spoke with the Attorney General again.  They had a brief 
discussion over what was happening in Waco.  As you know, this was 
before the fire broke out at the compound.  And I think that was why 
there was some -- just some confusion.  I think that she was 
confusing in her minds before and after the fire, not the actual day 
when they spoke.  
	     
	     Then there was a number of contacts at a number of 
different levels in the White House yesterday afternoon between the 
Justice Department and the White House.  They were informing us of 

their decisions, what they would like to do.  There was an FBI 
briefing in Waco.  The Attorney General had her press conference.  
The President then issued a statement after that.
	     
	     Frankly, yesterday afternoon, you know, there was a fair 
amount of confusion over exactly what was happening on the ground in 
Waco, and I think that we wanted to be very careful not to have the 
President say anything until we had a much better sense of what was 
actually happening on the ground.  Once we were fairly clear on what 
was happening on the ground in Waco, the President issued a 
statement.  He spoke with the Attorney General again yesterday 
evening.
	     
	     Q	  At what hour was that?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  It was quite late.  I believe it 
was after he returned from the Holocaust Museum.  He took a tour of 
the Holocaust Museum last night.
	     
	     Q	  And he went out to dinner.
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I believe briefly.  Yes, he went to 
dinner and then he spoke with the Attorney General last night.  I 
don't know the exact time; I think it was relatively late.  And he 
just said, I think as Dee Dee has reported, that he just wanted to 
tell her that he thought she handled a difficult situation very well, 
that she did a good job in a tough situation, and that she should try 
and get some sleep.  He then, again, spoke with her this morning 
about the follow-up in Waco, and about what they're going to do this 
afternoon.  As you know, the President will have an announcement to 
make at 1:15.
	     
	     Q	  Did he ever talk with Webb Hubbell yesterday, last 
night, or this morning?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Not to my knowledge, no.
	     
	     Q	  Was Webb Hubbell the point man for the White House?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Webb Hubbell is the general White 
House Liaison and several people talked to Webb.  The Attorney 
General was running the operation.
	     
	     Q	  Did he tell her that she should sleep well, that 
she had done a good job?  Or he just tell her that she should get 
some sleep?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I think sleep well -- done a good 
job -- I don't know the exact words.  I think that sounds right.
	     
	     Q	  I mean, sleep well has implications as to 
conscience and whether she should feel badly about it or not.
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Well, I mean, I think everybody 
feels badly when you have a situation when --
	     
	     Q	  I understand that, but whether the issue of blame 
is brought up in that phraseology.
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I think that's the spirit -- no, it 
has nothing to do with that.  The spirit with which it was offered 
was that the entire administration and certainly the Attorney General 
had to face a very difficult decision, a very difficult situation 
yesterday.  And that he thought that she had handled it well, as best 
as she could and --
	     
	     Q	  Well, does he think it was mishandled?

	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  -- it was just speaking of warm 
words to a friend.
	     
	     Q	  Does he think the situation was mishandled?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  The President --
	     
	     Q	  In retrospect?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  The President stands  by the 
decisions of the law enforcement agencies, the decisions of the 
Attorney General.  He accepts full responsibility.  At the same time, 
I think that we all want to look to the future and figure out what 
exactly happened, do a full review, and make sure we do what we can 
to make sure this doesn't happen -- this kind of thing doesn't happen 
again, or at least we know how to handle it.
	     
	     Q	  How much did he know about what she was going to go 
ahead with?  I know that she made the case to him -- explained --
outlined the case for action.  Did she say to him on Sunday precisely 
what action?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I don't think it was specific 
operational detail as to what was going to happen.  I think that they 
had a general discussion about the action, about the advisability of 
action.  I think, as she noted, he asked a few general questions just 
trying to get a sense of how things were considered.  But it wasn't 
minute-by-minute detail of how the operation --
	     
	     Q	  Well, was it, "we are going in."  Is it, "we're 
going to use tear gas"?  I mean, what?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I believe it was that we want to go 
in and take some action that would increase the pressure on those in 
the compound, and hopefully spur them towards some sort of movement 
out.
	     
	     Q	  George, was there ever a conscious political 
decision made, or even a discussion about distancing the President 
from --
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Not at all.  I mean, we were in 
close contact with the Justice Department.  The President accepts 
responsibility for this.  At the same time -- I mean, we just wanted 
to be very, very clear about how this happened and be as factual as 
we could be on how the decisions were made.  It is the responsibility 
of those on the ground to make recommendations.  The Attorney General 
has operational control over this.  The President obviously accepts 
responsibility for all of this, and he stands by the Attorney 
General.
	     
	     Q	  George, there was a report on the television today 
-- and I don't know more than that -- one of the members of the cult 
had said going into a courthouse that the FBI had started the fire 
and not themselves.  There was also a picture yesterday on the TV of 
a smashing into the building  where the fire broke out.  And my 
question is, is the White House absolutely certain that this fire was 
--
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  All the evidence we have is that 
this fire was started by David Koresh and those inside the compound 
-- every bit of evidence we have.
	     
	     Q	  Did the President ask the Attorney General why do 
this now, why this particular date, and did he ask about possible 
consequences of either death or injury?

	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I don't know the specific 
questions.  He had general questions about how the decision was going 
about being made.
	     
	     Q	  Those are general questions and did he ask 
generally, why now?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I think he asked, have you 
considered all of the consequences; have you considered the 
recommendations?  I don't know if he asked the question, "why now?  "  
I don't know if he asked that specific question.
	     
	     Q	  Did she tell him why now in terms of the stuff 
that's come out since then about the information provided by the 
listening device about Koresh getting increasingly more violent?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Again, I'm not certain how much 
specific detail they got into.  I know that she generally said that 
this is the recommendation she's prepared to make, I mean, the 
decision she's prepared to make.  It's based on the recommendations 
she was receiving from the field and after intensive questioning of 
those involved.  Again, I do not know how precisely detailed it was 
beyond that.
	     
	     Q	  What is the President's understanding why 
yesterday?  One of the people who went into the compound a couple 
weeks ago came out over the weekend with some speculation that he may 
have told law enforcement people something that precipitated this 
action.  Why yesterday?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  This is the first I've heard.  I 
think what we can go to is what the FBI and the Attorney General has 
said.  There were indications that those inside the compound were at 
some danger.  It was clear that the negotiations had broken down and 
it was the judgment of the experts involved in the negotiations that 
the situation was not going to get any better at all.  
	     
	     There was also some concern over the vulnerability of 
the agents themselves who had been working long beyond the time that 
these teams normally have to work.  And as the Attorney General has 
said, there was some concern over the fact that they did not have 
replacements in place who could stand in for them, and there was a 
concern over the safety.  
	     
	     All of these factors came into play.  They also 
considered the advice of a number of psychologists and other experts 
on David Koresh and those in the compound.  I would just go back to 
what the Attorney General has said.  You have to make the best 
judgment you can, given the information you have at the time.  They 
did.  Obviously, we all regret the loss of life.  It's a terribly 
unfortunate situation.  We all wish it could have turned out 
differently, but that doesn't take away from the judgments that were 
made at the time.
	     
	     Q	  George, when did the President know that they were 
going to use tear gas?  Was it before the assault on the compound?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I just don't know.  I don't believe 
he was given a lot of detail on exactly how the operation would go.  
I just don't know.
	     
	     Q	  Along that point, George, can you say whether the 
plan was presented to the President by the Attorney General as a way 
to end the standoff one way or the other yesterday?
	     

	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I think it was presented as a way 
to increase the pressure on those in the compound and, we all hoped, 
as a way to move some of those out and bring it in -- it wasn't 
presented as tomorrow is D-Day, this is it.
	     
	     Q	  Is the President satisfied that, A, he had all this 
relevant information necessary to make a decision, and B, that Janet 
Reno had all the relevant information necessary to make a decision?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Oh, I think he's satisfied that 
they were acting on the best advice and the best information they 
had, and he's not second-guessing it in any way whatsoever.
	     
	     Q	  George, was there a 12-hour gap between 
conversations between the President and the Attorney General?  In 
other words, they spoke at 11:00 a.m. and they didn't speak again 
until Clinton got back from dinner at --
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I think that's likely, yes.
	     
	     Q	  Did he call her?  What time did she call?  Was 
there a gap between when she called him?  I mean, was he at dinner 
when she called and --
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  No, no, no.  I think he called her 
last night.  I couldn't swear to it, but I believe he called her last 
night.  He just wanted to talk to her.
	     
	     Q	     what was going on?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Not that I know of, no.
	     
	     Q	  What do you know about the situation now?  Everyone 
has perished who -- except eight or nine?  And do you know any of the 
other details?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I don't know any more details than 
the FBI reported in Waco.
	     
	     Q	     watching CNN or how was he keeping track of what 
is going on?  If he wasn't talking to his Attorney General, how was 
he keeping track of what was going on here?  I mean, with all due 
respect to CNN, is that how he was doing it?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  No.  There was also -- as I said, 
several people in the White House were in constant contact with their 
counterparts at Justice to have the full and complete information.
	     
	     Q	  Who were those contacts?  I mean, was it Mack 
McLarty, Webb Hubbell?  How was the President being kept informed?  
That's not a --
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I believe Mack was in contact with 
Webb.  I spoke with several people at the Justice Department.  I 
believe Bruce Lindsey spoke with people at the Justice Department.  
Either Bernie or Vince was also in contact at different times during 
the day with people at the Justice Department.  We were fully briefed 
and fully informed.
	     
	     Q	  We were told this morning that the President may 
have spoken -- a chance that he may have spoken with Webb.  Do you 
know if that's true or not?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I think there's a chance he may 
have.  I don't believe he did, but I think there's certainly a chance 
that he may have at some point.  I don't believe he did.  I think 
that the last contact he had during the day yesterday directly with 

the Justice Department was the 11:00 a.m. phone call with the 
Attorney General.  But the White House was fully informed on a 
minute-to-minute basis of what was happening in Waco and what was 
happening at the Justice Department.
	     
	     Q	  George, who decided that the briefing would be done 
by the Attorney General?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  The Attorney General.
	     
	     Q	  Did you or did the White House communications staff 
-- were you ever involved with that decision?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  No.  We were told about it.
	     
	     Q	  Did you ask her to go on Nightline and MacNeil-
Lehrer and all that stuff?  Was that part of --
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  No.
	     
	     Q	     there was no advice from the White House at all 
about her -- she was on all night, all day.  (Laughter.)
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Yes, and she did a very good job. 
	     
	     Q	  Why did you decide to have the President's reaction 
to the situation be only a written statement, which is traditionally 
the White House's way of distancing the President from the issue, not 
having him appear as personally saying anything?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Well, that wasn't the intent at 
all.  As I said, we had to -- we wanted to wait until we had all of 
the information at hand.  The President is also making a statement 
today.  The President made a statement yesterday morning.  The 
President has been fully involved --
	     
	     Q	  After this turned into less than a successful 
operation, the only statement from the President was what was on 
paper after the Attorney General had already given what amounted to 
the major facts in this.
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Well, it was the first statement 
from the President, not the only statement from the President, number 
one.  
	     
	     Q	  After the --
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Number two -- well, the first.  
Number two, the Attorney General --
	     
	     Q	  He gave a statement early in the morning when the 
thing was starting to move --
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Right.  And he gave one yesterday 
and he's giving one today.  Now, the second point --
	     
	     Q	  It just happens this was a written statement with 
no sort of communications policy or thought process involved?  It was 
the President wants to put out a written statement?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Knowing what we knew at the time, 
we thought it was appropriate for the President and he thought it was 
appropriate to put out a written statement expressing his regret and 
expressing his support for the Attorney General's --
	     
	     Q	  Why was it not appropriate for him to personally do 
something?

	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Well, he did personally do so.  
That is his statement.  It's a statement under his name.
	     
	     Q	  George, yesterday during the briefing you didn't 
say the President took full responsibility for what happened --
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I certainly did.
	     
	     Q	  No, what you said was --
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  That's just not right, Susan.
	     
	     Q	  Well, I think you can go back to the transcript, I 
mean, unless I miss something --
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I'd love to.
	     
	     Q	     Janet Reno said that she took full 
responsibility and you said that she made the decision, that the FBI 
--
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  And the President takes 
responsibility.  Absolutely.
	     
	     Q	  Took responsibility -- all right.
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Check the transcript.
	     
	     Q	  Considering how little was known about what was 
going on inside the compound and, even now, how little is known, why 
is Washington calling this a mass suicide?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Well, I think that knowing what we 
know now and given all of the actions of David Koresh before and 
during, it is painfully clear that those there were under his 
control.
	     
	     Q	  It's stretching it a little bit where the kids are 
concerned, though, isn't it, George?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I think that that is an entirely 
different matter.  I mean, I think that David Koresh must bear 
responsibility for the deaths of those children, absolutely.  But he 
clearly was intent on creating some kind of an apocalyptic incident, 
and that's what he did.
	     
	     Q	  You're still operating completely on assumption, 
right?  I mean, you have no evidence, or you know of no evidence that 
this was mass suicide.
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  We have evidence that those inside 
the compound set fire to the compound, which led to the deaths of 
those inside.
	     
	     Q	  I didn't quite hear it.  This might be Ann's 
question, I didn't quite hear it.  But at what time did Clinton 
himself put out a statement on this?  I know Dee Dee said some stuff 
on this at 6:00 p.m., but the President put out --
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  At 6:35 p.m., 6:40 p.m.
	     
	     Q	  Right after the evening news went on the air?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  No, right when we had all the 
information.  We were working on it.
	     

	     Q 	  Dee Dee confirmed this morning that the 
investigation the President is going to announce is going to be an 
administration-run investigation.  Why not have someone from the 
outside to make sure that it's not colored by those who would have a 
political stake, particularly those at the ATF whose actions have 
already been --
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I think that clearly the ATF and 
the Justice Department will bear responsibility for the 
investigation.  That's not to rule out, as is often in investigations 
like this, having some sort of independent involvement as well.  But 
it will be run by the Treasury and Justice. 
	     
	     Q	  Are you confident that you will not have any 
problem getting --
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Absolutely.
	     
	     Q	  George, did the President reach out to anybody else 
to get advice after the meeting with Janet Reno?  And who else in the 
White House sat in on that meeting?  Anyone else from Justice?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I don't believe anybody else was 
there at the time.  It was a phone call on Monday, it wasn't a 
meeting.
	     
	     Q	  Sunday.
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Sunday.  It was a phone call, it 
wasn't a meeting.  I believe he might have been there with Bruce, but 
beyond that, I think he just talked to the Attorney General.
	     
	     Q	  George, you said that in that phone call, she said 
that we want to go in and take action, as you said, that will force 
him out.  What did he think she was talking about?  If he didn't know 
about tear gas, what exactly was his idea of what he was approving?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I think he was approving an action 
to increase the pressure on --
	     
	     qQ	   It didn't matter how she did that?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  No, no.  I mean --
	     
	     Q	  What information did he have in terms of how this 
would proceed?  Presumably he would have wanted to know, not minute-
by-minute, but in a general sense --
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I think he knew that this was the 
recommendation of those on the ground and the recommendation of the 
law enforcement agencies.  I just don't know --
	     
	     Q	  What is "this" -- when you say that "this" was the 
recommendation --
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  The action to increase pressure.  I 
don't know exactly what he was told -- whether he was going to be 
told that the tank was going to go up to the left wall and punch a 
hole in the window, or whether he was just told generally that they 
were moving forward in a way that would increase the pressure.  I 
just don't know.
	     
	     Q	  It's hard to imagine him not asking, though.
	     
	     Q	     that Janet Reno presented him with as her best 
advice about what they should go forward with, he would have agreed?
	     

	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  He was -- he did ask some general 
questions about the advice and recommendation he gave.  At the same 
time -- and I would repeat -- that this was based on the unanimous 
recommendation of the law enforcement agencies involved.
	     
	     Q	  George, it would seem that this question about just 
exactly in what detail the President was informed about the nature of 
the operation is going to come up again here and elsewhere.  Can you 
take that question and --
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Absolutely.  Yes.
	     
	     Q	     get the answer and come back to us with all of 
it?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Yes.
	     
	     Q	  Can you tell us that there was never a meeting -- a 
strategy session -- where you and others decided, we will put out a 
written statement from the President and we will have Janet Reno be 
on all of these television broadcasts?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Never.  Never.
	     
	     Q	  And you never called the Justice Department and 
said to anyone or Janet Reno, "you're the one who needs to be out 
front explaining this"?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Not once.
	     
	     Q	  It just happened that way that she was the 
spokesman, that no one ever saw Bill Sessions until --
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  She made a decision as Attorney 
General that it was important for her as the operational officer in 
charge, as the person who made the decision, to go out and take the 
questions on this tragic incident.
	     
	     Q	  She had no guidance from the White House at all?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  We certainly didn't object.
	     
	     Q	  But did you -- (laughter) -- no, I'm sure you 
didn't object, but did you suggest it?  Was this a plan --
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  No. Absolutely not.
	     
	     Q	     a strategy?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  No.
	     
	     Q	  Did she clear it?  
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  No.
	     
	     Q	  Did she notify you?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  We certainly knew about it.
	     
	     Q	  What happened to this great detailed process you 
have for clearing and talking to every public information officer and 
every -- under every rock and every place in government that 
something as major as this could have occurred without a discussion 
between you and the public information people at least at the Justice 
Department?
	     

	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  The Attorney General made the 
decision and the Attorney General wanted to go forward.  It seemed 
like a good decision.  It was a good decision.  She did a good job.
	     
	     Q	  Let me ask it this way, George, if in hindsight how 
you would handle it?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I think it was handled very well.
	     
	     Q	  You wouldn't change a thing if --
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Change what?
	     
	     Q	  The way the White House handled any part of it -- 
from start to finish.
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Well, I think that's an awful broad 
question and we're certainly going to have a review.  One of the 
reasons for the investigation is to look for ways in the future that 
something like this -- see what we can learn from an incident like 
this and see what we can learn about how to handle them.  If you're 
talking specifically about the issue of the press conferences, no, 
there -- wouldn't make any change at all.
	     
	     Q	  Two questions:  First of all, on her going on TV, 
no White House people or outside media consultants came up with this 
idea?  It's just very reminiscent of what you guys did during the 
campaign.
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  How so?
	     
	     Q	  I'm thinking of like watching Clinton on Nightline 
after the draft story; watching Clinton on --
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  There's absolutely no comparison.  
Yesterday there was a law enforcement incident.  The incident ended 
in tragic deaths of many, many people.  The Attorney General was 
involved in that decision.  The Attorney General made the decision to 
do that.  She felt it was her responsibility in the interest of 
public information to go out and take the questions of the press in 
order to make sure that all of the questions were answered, and she 
did a fantastic job.
	     
	     Q	  The second question is, did -- as someone who knows 
Clinton as well as you do, can you understand why it's sort of hard 
to believe that he might not have asked some detailed questions about 
what she intended to do?  In other words, she came and she said, I'm 
going to put pressure on them.  It's hard not to see Clinton, who's 
fairly intelligent and inquisitive, asking how.
	     
	     Q	  What kind?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Both the Attorney General said that 
he did ask questions, he did ask general questions.  I don't have a 
minute-by-minute account of the conversation.
	     
	     Q	  How long a conversation?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I think it was about 15 minutes.
	     
	     Q	  Telephone conversation?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Yes.
	     
	     Q	  George, was the federal cost of this standoff ever 
a consideration in terms of stepping up the pressure --
	     

	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I don't believe so, no.
	     
	     Q	  George, you keep saying that the President takes 
full responsibility, but then you refer to it as her decision.  Does 
the President not accept the fact that as Commander-In-Chief, it is 
ultimately his decision?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I don't know what this has to do 
with Commander-In-Chief.  This was a law enforcement action, not a 
military action.  And he clearly takes responsibility for the 
decisions of the law enforcement agencies involved taken in his 
government.  I mean, I think there's just no ambiguity about that.
	     
	     Q	  But is he accepting it as his decision as well as 
hers, or is he saying it's her decision?  There's a difference.
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  As a matter of fact, it was her 
decision.  He did not object to that decision.  He clearly takes full 
responsibility. 
	     
	     Q	  George, this briefing has gone on just a little 
over 15 minutes, and as you can see a lot of things can be exchanged.  
What exactly did they spend 15 minutes talking about if it was just 
very general?  That's a long period of time in a phone conversation.
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  It is an awful long phone 
conversation.  It was a very important phone conversation.  I think 
Brit has asked that we take the question, and I've said that I would.
	     
	     Q	  One of the things Reno said last night is that the 
buck stops here.  I think that was her direct quotation.  Does the 
President agree with that in this case?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  The President says he accepts full 
responsibility.  I think what the Attorney General was saying is that 
she made a decision, that she's going to accept all the 
responsibility that comes to her.  And she's not shrinking from that 
at all, but neither is the President. 
	     
	     Q	  At any point in the conversation last night between 
the President and the Attorney General or this morning, did she ever 
offer her a resignation?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Not to my knowledge. 
	     
	     Q	  Even before the fire was out yesterday, there were 
some Republicans on Capitol Hill calling for an investigation.  Is 
the White House at all concerned about the timing of those requests 
trying to make political hay out of this situation?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  No.  And I don't want to cast any 
questions about the motives of those who are requesting 
investigation.  We want an investigation, and we'll have a full and 
complete investigation.
	     
	     Q	  In what forum will you answer Brit's question?  
Will you put out a written statement?  Will you -- the wires?  How 
will you answer the question that you've taken?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I'm just not sure.
	     
	     Q	  George, can you remind us what the President was 
doing all yesterday afternoon, where he was, and what meetings he was 
involved in?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I'll have to try and remember.  He 
had a series of meetings with different members of the staff during 

the afternoon.  He was certainly monitoring the situation in Waco and 
getting periodic reports on that as well.  He did see some on CNN as 
well.  I believe he saw a fair amount of the FBI press briefing as 
well.
	     
	     Q	  And those reports would have come to him from Mack 
McLarty, would they -- do you think?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Mack talked to him, Bruce talked to 
him, I talked to him.
	     
	     Q	  George, to follow Helen's question, in their 
conversation this morning did they discuss at all her statement last 
night in response to the question about whether she would resign?  
Did he say, I don't know why you felt the need to say that?  I'm here 
to reassure you that you don't have to do this?  Did that come up at 
all?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I don't know if it even came up 
that specifically.  I know that the bulk of the conversation was 
discussing where do we go from here and what form the investigation 
--
	     
	     Q	   The didn't talk at all about her kind of 
remarkable comment last night about --
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Well, I believe she was asked a 
question.
	     
	     Q	  And her response was, if the President wants me to, 
I will.
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Which would be, I think, the 
standard response that most Cabinet members would give.  I mean, it's 
a conditional statement.
	     
	     Q	     have a need to talk about whether -- personally 
about whether the President wanted her --
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I don't know if they talked about 
it.  I mean, what I learned about the conversation was that it was 
largely about the investigation itself.  And this just didn't come 
up.  I did not ask the question if they talked about --
	     
	     Q	  Will you take that with the Brit package?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Certainly.  (Laughter.)
	     
	     Q	  George, for the record, does the President want her 
to resign?  I know Dee Dee answered this morning --
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Absolutely not.  He supports Janet 
Reno.  She's a good Attorney General.  She's done a good job.  She 
handled a difficult situation extremely well.
	     
	     Q	  George, does the President feel that he and Janet 
Reno were let down by the unanimous professional advice from the law 
enforcement experts on the ground?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  No.  And the President is not 
second-guessing that decision and those recommendations in any way.  
That is not to say that he doesn't regret the loss of life.  
Everybody regrets the loss of life in this situation.  But the best 
judgments were made in a difficult situation based on the best 
information we had.
	     

	     Q	  George, the 15-minute conversation was the one on 
Sunday, is that correct?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Yes.
	     
	     Q	  How long was the one at 11:00 a.m. yesterday 
morning?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I don't know.  I'll take that 
question, too.
	     
	     Q	  Were these outside experts that they were 
consulting with, or experts within the ATF and the FBI?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  You'd have to ask them.  I'm just 
not sure.  I know that there were several experts.
	     
	     Q	  And also, why weren't there replacements for these 
people?  Is the unit that small?  
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Again, I think it is a very small 
highly-specialized unit.  But I think it's one of the kinds of things 
that the investigation will examine.
	     
	     Q	  George, isn't there a factor here involving the FBI 
Director?  Normally, a president, when he wants to get information, 
doesn't only asks the Attorney General.  I know the chain of command.  
But presidents talk to their FBI directors.  In this case, throughout 
this entire siege, he has not felt that he could pick up the phone 
and talk to Bill Sessions, who is from Waco, and get expertise from 
him on what to do and what not to do?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  I think he talked to the FBI 
Director well in the beginning of the situation when it first broke 
out in Waco.  At the same time, the Attorney General bears the 
ultimate responsibility and he was getting fully briefed from the 
Attorney General.
	     
	     Q	  Don't you think the ambiguous situation that 
Director Sessions is in has some impact on the way the President is 
briefed and on the way that all of this evolved?
	     
	     MR. STEPHANOPOULOS:  Not at all.  I mean, it's perfectly 
appropriate that he be briefed by the Attorney General and that the 
Attorney General has supervisory authority over the FBI Director, and 
that's following the chain of command.
	     
	     THE PRESS:  Thank you .

                                 END                    1:03 P.M. EDT