[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 29, Number 6 (Monday, February 15, 1993)]
[Pages 191-196]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
<R04>
The President's News Conference With Attorney-General-Designate Janet
Reno
February 11, 1992
Nomination of Janet Reno To Be Attorney General
The President. Good afternoon. One of my central missions as
President is to reconnect the Government of the American people with the
people who sent us here. Government cannot be an abstract, distant
entity. It must be directly linked to the real lives of real people. I
pledged when I ran to reach beyond Washington to bring the best from
America's statehouses and courthouses to our Government. And I believe
that my Cabinet and other appointees have fulfilled that pledge so far.
No agency needs an injection of innovative spirit more than the
Department of Justice. Americans demand and deserve freedom from crime
in their homes, at their schools, and on the streets. Talking tough is
easy. Actually getting results is much more difficult and much more
rare.
Thousands of prosecutors and police across America have been
developing successful ways to fight crime and, just as important, to
restore the sense of security that makes community possible in our
Nation. I expect my Justice Department to take those lessons and apply
them nationally, to be an innovator for law enforcement.
After years of political controversy and abuse, the Justice
Department also needs an Attorney General who will bring a sense of
pride, integrity, and new energy to that agency. The Department's
dedicated career staff need leadership to help the Department pull
together to focus on the urgent interests and issues of justice and law
that brought the employees of the Justice Department into public service
in the first place. They need an administrator schooled in the
management of tough and complex problems and difficult-to-call legal
cases, things that affect matters in the office and on the streets of
America.
I am proud to announce today that I intend to nominate Janet Reno,
the State attorney from Miami and Dade County, Florida, to be our next
Attorney General. She is a front-line crime fighter and a caring public
servant. She has devoted her life to making her community safer, keeping
children out of trouble, reducing domestic violence, and helping
families. She has truly put people first.
She grew up as the daughter of two respected Florida journalists.
She worked her way through Cornell University, graduating in 1960. Three
years later, in 1963, she was one of a handful of women to graduate from
the Harvard Law School, a year behind her distinguished Senator, Bob
Graham. After a decade in the private practice of law, she was appointed
the State attorney in 1978.
Janet Reno is ready to tackle the Justice Department's problems.
Serving successfully as the chief prosecutor in a complex, diverse urban
community is a really tough job. And she had done that job and done it
well. She supervises an office of 900, including 230 attorneys. Her
office handles over 120,000 cases per year, 40,000 of them felonies, and
has won 80 capital punishment convictions for first degree murderers
since she became prosecutor.
She has pioneered innovative programs to reduce crime, violence, and
drug abuse. She launched a drug court program that has become nationally
acclaimed that gets young first-time offenders back on track. She's
piloted a community policing program, helping to reduce crime in
blighted urban areas, something we want to do all across America. She
began one of the first and best domestic violence programs combating
spousal and child abuse. She runs a tough child support program that is
at the leading edge of making deadbeat parents pay up.
She has been a fair-minded and effective prosecutor. Her balanced
approach has won wide praise from across the community, from law
enforcement, the bar, community leaders, civil rights leaders. People
from all walks of life have hailed her achievements and her
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remarkable dedication to public service. She has won election five times
and is the single biggest vote getter in Dade County. The overwhelming
support of the people who know her best is the most telling testament to
her skills that I know of.
As an experienced law enforcement leader, she will be an effective
voice in our fight against violent crime, spearheading our efforts to
put 100,000 new police officers on the street, to keep dangerous weapons
out of the hands of criminals, to make greater use of boot camps and
other alternative means of service for young offenders, to increase aid
to local law enforcement, to expand the use of community policing and to
tackle the problems of violence against women and the need for tougher
child support enforcement.
She will join with local leaders and environmental advocates to make
sure that those who pollute our air and our water pay for their actions
and take responsibility for the needed clean-up. She will work to
invigorate our civil rights laws and to ensure that every person has an
equal chance to contribute to and to participate in all our country has
to offer. And she'll lead the fight against crime in the suites, as well
as crime in the streets, ensuring that every possible penny is recovered
from people who have bilked the S&L's and other white-collar criminals.
Finally, I want to say to you that every one I know who knows and
has worked with Janet Reno agrees that she possesses one quality most
essential to being Attorney General: unquestioned integrity. She's
demonstrated throughout her career a commitment to principles that I
want to see enshrined at the Justice Department. No one is above the
law. Our legal system must protect the innocent and punish the
wrongdoers. That the promise of equal justice under law must be a
reality for every American.
This remarkable public servant still lives in a house in Florida
that her mother built with her own hands. She has a listed phone number;
and she's told me many times that people who find that their ex-spouses
are delinquent in their child support call her at home because they
believe that she can go collect their child support. She has lived the
kind of life, in real contact with the toughest problems of this
country, that I think will serve her very well as the Nation's chief law
enforcement officer.
Janet Reno.
I want her to give a statement first.
[At this point, Attorney-General-designate Janet Reno made a statement.]
FBI Director William Sessions
Q. Does this mean you're going to have a house-cleaning of the
Justice Department, and that Sessions is on his way out as FBI Director?
The President. Well, first of all, I think it's important that we
put the new Attorney General in and get our leadership team in at
Justice. And I don't want to speak for her, but I think the appropriate
thing is to wait until the final report is in on the FBI Director and
give the Attorney-General-designate a chance to review that before we
say anything else about that.
Q. Do you have any ideas on that subject?
Selection Process
Q. Mr. President, how much was your selection guided by a
determination to have a woman as the first Attorney General?
The President. Somewhat, but not entirely. I also reviewed a large
number of men for this position. And in the last several weeks,
actually, I decided that I would just do it as if I were doing it all
over again. I would go back to ground one. I reviewed a large number of
potential candidates, both men and women.
I have to tell you, if I might be permitted a little personal
moment, I've had a high regard for Janet Reno for some time because my
brother-in-law is the defense attorney in the drug court about which I
spoke so I've known about her exploits for some time. And I considered
her even in the beginning, even though she and I never had a
conversation. So I think it's fair to say that in my mind at least she
prevailed in a fleet of very fine candidates, both men and women.
Q. Mr. President, can you tell us what role Mrs. Clinton had in this
selection because we know that Janet Reno has a great deal of experience
in child issues and that she's come to Mrs. Clinton's attention last
year at least?
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The President. None except to say that she liked her a lot. I mean,
that she knew her and liked her a lot. And of course, Hillary's brother
had been in the drug court. So I knew that from my own direct knowledge,
though she didn't even talk to me about that.
Q. Did she participate in the interviewing?
The President. No, not at all.
The Inslaw Case
Q. Mr. President, will she clean up the Inslaw case, that case where
Meese and others stole a great system for using computers and didn't pay
for it, and the House Judiciary Committee has recommended that there be
an independent counsel to clean this up. It's a scandal on the face of
the United States Government.
Attorney-General-Designate Reno. What I will do is what I do in each
of these instances. I'll make sure that we review it carefully, look at
the evidence, look at what should be done based on the evidence and the
law, and take appropriate action.
Death Penalty
Q. Ms. Reno, could we get your views on the death penalty, and is
there a difference between your view and the President's view? And if
there is, is that significant and how will that affect your policy at
the Justice Department?
Attorney-General-Designate Reno. I'm personally opposed to the death
penalty, as I've told the President, but I've probably asked for it as
much as many prosecutors in the country and have secured it. And when
the evidence and the law justify the death penalty, I will ask for it as
I have consistently. I will advocate for it as the law of the land in
particular situations if we can secure such penalties.
Q. Will you move to reverse the death penalty?
Nominee's Qualifications
Q. Mr. President, can you assure us today, sir, that of all the
candidates you either reviewed or could have reviewed for this job, that
the one you have chosen is the absolute best-qualified person possible?
The President. I can assure you that based on my criteria I think
she's the best. Somebody else might have other criteria. My criteria
were the ones that I outlined. I wanted to bring someone to the Justice
Department who had had both management experience and legal experience.
I want to bring someone to the Justice Department who had dealt with a
wide range of real-world problems and who had a keen eye for excellence
and talent, to restore a sense of movement and energy and vitality.
There are an awful lot of good people at the Justice Department who
want to be part of a Department on the move and feel good about it. And
the one thing I thought, I can tell you this--this is ironic since I'm
now naming Janet Reno. I want to be forthright and answer the question
fully.
In the beginning of my deliberations weeks ago, the one reason that
I did not pursue this more was because Janet Reno had always been a
State prosecutor and not a Federal U.S. Attorney, or not a higher
Justice Department official. But the more I dug into it and the more I
talked to people about it, the more I realized that you couldn't be the
State's attorney in Dade County for 15 years without having enormous
exposure to a wide range of issues that the Justice Department deals
with, and without working with the United States Attorney. You might
want to ask her for some specifics.
So finally, I said, ``Well, why don't I just call and explore
this.'' And I did, and I was fully satisfied that she had more than
enough familiarity with the Federal system to do the job.
Q. Mr. President, can you outline for us--when you say ``somewhat''
that her gender was somewhat of a factor, can you explain to us how big
a role that played, and why? And I'd like to ask Ms. Reno how she feels
about taking a position that seems to have been set aside for a woman.
The President. It was not set aside. I'll tell you again, I
considered a significant number of men for this position. And as I said
before--someone asked me about this double standard issue--there were
also a significant number of men who couldn't go forward in this process
because of some of the same problems that you all have written about.
I thought it was important not to disqualify women just because of
what happened be-
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fore. And I really believe--I'm not sure you could find anybody around
the country that would get any more favorable and broad-based support
than I have been given in spontaneous comments. I just left a Member of
the House of Representatives who doesn't live within 200 miles of Janet
Reno, who heard that I was going to name her and just went out of his
way to tell me that it was a great appointment, what a wonderful thing
it was that I had done. I feel very comfortable with this appointment on
the merits.
Law Enforcement
Q. Mr. President, given the tight budget constraints that you have
been focusing on over the past weeks, how do you and this Attorney
General plan to go about fulfilling your campaign promise to hire
100,000 police officers for this country?
The President. Well, I think there are three things that I would
point you to, and keep in mind we don't have to do it in the first year.
We have--when you all talked to me about my campaign commitments,
remember I've got a 4-year term--[laughter]--at least that.
I want to do that from three sources:
Number one: I hope we can bring that crime bill back up that almost
passed but didn't last time and have some funds for local law
enforcement to hire more police officers.
Number two: I want to proceed at a pace with the national service
program, which will give priority in every State to people who want to
pay their college loans back by working as police officers.
Number three: I want to pursue the idea that Senator Nunn first
raised, at least he was the first one I ever heard raise it, of helping
people who are going to be mustered out of the military service to
qualify to move quickly into careers as police officers or teachers.
And so, we believe from those three sources, with the funding that I
have set aside in the budget I will recommend, and the other things that
we will do over the next 4 years, we will be able to meet that goal.
Susan [Susan Spencer, CBS News].
Selection Process
Q. Is it safe to assume that Ms. Reno has: a, never hired an illegal
alien, legally or illegally; b, paid all her Social Security taxes? And
finally, as you look back on the soap opera that has led to this, how do
you assess whatever political damage you may or may not have incurred?
The President. Oh, I don't think there is much. I think what
happened--I just would remind you, though, I nominated one other person
for this, Zoe Baird, and I took responsibility for that fact that our
vetting procedure was inadequate. It was my personal responsibility.
Since then, all the other things that you have written about are things
that you found out about in ways that I don't know, but our procedure
worked and worked quite well. And I didn't discuss anybody or anything
until I got ready to nominate somebody else. So I think they did a good
job.
If there were any mistakes made in the interim, it was people who
worked here, worked around here, or were talked to by us who said things
to you they shouldn't have. But otherwise, the system worked pretty well
as it was supposed to have worked.
Q. First question: we can assume that all of these other matters are
not a problem?
The President. Well, why don't you ask her?
Attorney-General-Designate Reno. I've never hired any illegal
aliens, and I think I've paid all my Social Security taxes. Certainly in
the vetting process in the last week we've covered everything.
The Vice President. She made sure that a lot of others have, too.
Q. Mr. President, to the extent that you wanted to fulfill these
commitments, did you feel hamstrung by the pledge or the perception of a
pledge that you had set aside this job for a woman?
The President. No.
Q. And part two, if we can ask Ms. Reno, we never got an answer to
Ruth's question about how she feels about being appointed to a job in
which there is that perception of a pledge.
The President. No. As I said, I interviewed--I even talked to--I
don't know how it didn't get into the paper, but it didn't--both men as
well as women about this job. And I seriously considered, seriously
considered, at least four men for this job. I really concluded in the
end that Janet Reno would
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be best. I never felt hamstrung by any commitment, even though I did
want to name a woman Attorney General. I thought it would be a good
thing. There are a lot of women lawyers in the country, a lot of women
judges in the country, a lot of women prosecutors in the country. And I
thought it would be a good and interesting thing to do. But I never felt
hamstrung by the commitment.
Attorney-General-Designate Reno. I think this is one of the greatest
challenges that any lawyer could have in America. And I want to try my
level-best. I have been so impressed with members of the administration
and with the vetting team and with the approach to Government, the
approach that Government can work to put people first. And I'm just
delighted to be here, and I'm going to try my level-best.
Nominee's Qualifications
Q. Are you a feminist?
The President. You want to answer that?
Q. Are you a feminist?
Attorney-General-Designate Reno. The question is whether I'm a
feminist. My mother always told me to do my best, to think my best and
to do right and consider myself a person.
The President. I do think I need to make one factual disclosure and
then I promise to call on Mr. [inaudible]. There was one factor which
affected me about Janet Reno, which is that Senator Gore and I carried--
when he was Senator and I was Governor--we carried Dade County in the
Presidential election by 4 percentage points. The last time Janet Reno
had an opponent she carried it by 40 percentage points. [Laughter] That
had a lot more to do than gender with convincing me that she could
handle things at the Justice Department. If you know anything about Dade
County, you know that is a truly astonishing achievement.
Q. If I could ask Ms. Reno, the President mentioned that he was
attracted to your experience as a State prosecutor which gave you a lot
of experience on the criminal law side. But you obviously haven't had
direct experience with a number of Federal issues that will come up,
constitutional issues that will come up. Do you feel that you'll have a
substantial learning curve that you'll have to get over in order to be
able to deal with those Federal law issues that you haven't been dealing
with in your career, certainly for the last 15 years?
Attorney-General-Designate Reno. I think one of the splendors of the
law is that it covers so many areas and that if you're going to be
Attorney General, it's going to be very difficult for any one person to
be skilled and to be experienced in every area that the Attorney General
must cover. I think I can do the job, and I think I can do it by
building a team dedicated to excellence, to professionalism, a team
where the hallmark is integrity. And using the base of the tremendous
career lawyers that exist in the Department of Justice, I think we're
going to have a great team.
Q. Mr. President, this has been a frustrating process for you in
some ways. If you had it to do all over again, what would you do
differently?
The President. Oh, I would have called Janet Reno on November the
5th. [Laughter]
Immigration Law
Q. Ms. Reno lives in an area which is full of immigrants, legal and
illegal, and a lot of things about the confusing laws of immigration
came out in the past few weeks, as we all know. What will she do to
clear up all these problems?
Attorney-General-Designate Reno. Again, what I would like to do is
work with members of the administration, members of the Department of
Justice, to look at the problem, to consult with the President, and to
make recommendations based on a thorough study of the matter.
Abortion
Q. Can you tell us your views on freedom of choice?
Attorney-General-Designate Reno. I am pro-choice.
Florida Corruption Investigation
Q. Ms. Reno, could I ask a question? The county--Dade County--some
of the critics have said that you have passed along questions of local
corruption, government corruption, to the Federal courts and the Federal
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system. The question is why did you choose to do that?
Attorney-General-Designate Reno. Let me give you a classic example.
My office was responsible for investigating and putting together a case
against a significant number of corrupt officials. Florida has very
liberal discovery rules that give defense attorneys the right to
question all the witnesses, somewhat far more liberal than Federal
court. The Federal authorities also have the Internal Revenue Service.
It seemed to us as the case progressed that it would be best handled in
Federal court. I didn't ship the case over there. I shipped the case
with my prosecutors, who were cross-designated to the Federal court.
One of the things that interested me when I asked the U.S. Attorney
to work with us in this effort is that he said, ``Janet, that's
political suicide. People will think you're ducking.'' And I said, ``Mr.
Kellner, I want to do what's right for the case and right to see that
justice is secured.'' Our prosecutors participated in that prosecution.
I think it gave me an understanding of Federal process, Federal
procedure, Federal law. And I think it's an example of what State and
Federal officials can do working together, without everybody being
concerned about turf and taking credit for something.
Confirmation
Q. Mr. President, how long do you think it's going to take to get
this nominee confirmed?
The President. Well, I talked to Senator Biden today, and he said
that he would proceed in an expeditious way. So I think that you should
ask Senator Biden about that. I think that the committee will take it up
in an appropriate fashion. I don't expect them to race it through or
anything, but I think they will do it in a prompt way when they come
back.
Q. Can you think of any issues at all that might complicate the
confirmation process? Anything that will have to be explained?
The President. I don't. I think that she may have to--she just
explained one issue here. I can tell you this: If you've been a
prosecutor for 15 years, it's like if you've been a Governor for 12
years. Not every call you make is right; not every case you pursue is
won. But I can just tell you, I have been literally amazed at the
quality of the recommendations that I received for Janet Reno.
Justice Department Staff
Q. Mr. President, have you make any decisions yet on any other top
positions at Justice, and what is Webb Hubbell's role going to be at
Justice?
The President. Well, we'll have to discuss that with the Attorney
General now. But I will say this for the hometown press: He has done a
magnificent job for the last 3 weeks under rather adverse circumstances,
just trying to keep things together there and to keep the morale up and
help at least to do the things that had to be done. I hope he will be
staying there. And the answer to your other question is, as you might
imagine, we have done an enormous amount of work on top-flight
candidates for other positions, and I would expect that if this
nomination goes as I expect it to, we will be able to fill out the
Justice Department with first-class lawyers very, very quickly. Thank
you.
Q. Are you sure you're not troubled by the fact that her parents
were both journalists? [Laughter]
The President. No, actually, I thought the fact that her parents
were both journalists and she still was a surviving elected politician
made her doubly qualified to be Attorney General. [Laughter]
Note: The President's third news conference began at 4:40 p.m. in the
Rose Garden at the White House.