[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1997, Book II)]
[September 22, 1997]
[Pages 1213-1214]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks Prior to Discussions With Foreign Minister Yevgeniy Primakov of 
Russia and an Exchange With Reporters in New York City
September 22, 1997

    The President. Let me briefly say that it's a pleasure for me to see 
Foreign Minister Primakov here and to renew our relationship and our 
dialog. You also know that the Vice President is now in Moscow for his 
regular meeting with Prime Minister Chernomyrdin. And we have a lot of 
work to do. But I am very encouraged at the progress in our 
relationships and in our partnership over the last year or so.
    I had a great meeting with President Yeltsin in Helsinki. We were 
together again in Paris and, of course, in Denver. And among other 
things, Mr. Primakov and I will be discussing our partnership in Bosnia 
and our partnership for arms control today--places where we look forward 
to greater progress.
    So I'm glad to see him, and I'm delighted to have this chance to 
visit.
    Would you like to say anything?

[[Page 1214]]

    Foreign Minister Primakov. Thank you very much for receiving me, Mr. 
President. It is a great honor for me and also a chance to discuss the 
issues that you have just mentioned. I've brought for you a message from 
President Yeltsin. This is the reply to your latest message to him. You 
will see that, for yourself, it mentions our very big interest in having 
our relations with the United States develop further on many tracks, not 
just our desire to do so but also our willingness.
    Last night we had a very exciting, very productive talk with the 
Secretary of State. And already, based on that talk, I got a signal 
coming from Moscow--Madam was asking why I am not being authorized to do 
certain things. Well, most probably what is at issue is the protocol, 
because that's something that your Vice President already mentioned. 
[Laughter] This is to indicate the rapid way the United States operates, 
and we are far removed, as yet, from that. [Laughter]
    The President. Thank you very much.

1996 Campaign Financing

    Q. Mr. President, the Justice Department now says it apparently has 
memos that indicate you were urged to make another 40 fundraising calls. 
Sir, what do you recall of these memos, and were the calls made or were 
they not?
    The President. Well, I've already said I don't know--I haven't 
read--I don't know what you're talking about on the memos because I 
haven't seen them, so I can't comment on that. I've already answered 
about the calls.
    Let me just say this. I believe what the Vice President did and what 
I did was legal, and I am absolutely certain that we believed we were 
acting within the letter of the law. And I'm going to cooperate however 
I can to establish the facts, but I think that's important that you and 
the American people understand that, that I certainly--I believed then 
and I believe now what we did was legal. But I am absolutely positive 
that we intended to be firmly within the letter of the law when we were 
out there campaigning and raising funds as we should have been doing. We 
had to do that.

Note: The President spoke at 12:45 p.m. in the U.S. Mission at the 
United Nations. In his remarks, he referred to Prime Minister Viktor 
Chernomyrdin and President Boris Yeltsin of Russia. A tape was not 
available for verification of the content of these remarks.