White House Daily Briefing, September 22, 2000

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary



September 22, 2000



PRESS BRIEFING BY JOE LOCKHART



The James S. Brady Briefing Room



2:23 P.M. EDT



Q: On the Reno visit, she said this morning that she thought that when
the President heard all the facts that he would understand and maybe
have a different view. I was wondering if there was any change in his
view towards the case at all.


LOCKHART: I think, as the President made clear, he had questions on a
narrow part of this, as far as the pre-detention. I think that's one
of the things the Office of Professional Responsibility will look to.
I think the President looks forward to, there's people on the Hill who
look forward to, and the American public should look forward to an
accounting there and I think that will be done.


Q:  So he still has -- I mean, we can still say he has concerns?



LOCKHART: The purpose of the meeting was to talk about how they would
go about looking at some of these questions, not trying to fully
answer the questions.


Q: Was the review precipitated solely by the judge's comments, or was
there a formal complaint issued by the Lee family or representative?


LOCKHART: I'm not aware of a formal complaint. It's my understanding
that the Justice Department, upon receiving the kind of comments the
judge issued in his ruling, would take a look like this through the
Office of Professional Responsibility. But it's also clear that there
have been a number of questions raised here.

...

Q: Joe, on Wen Ho Lee, did the Attorney General say anything in the
meeting today to allay the President's concerns about the pretrial
detention?


LOCKHART: I think she gave an overall sense of the case. But I think
that rather than trying to make a judgment at this point, we should
wait until the exercise that they will commence through the Office of
Professional Responsibility is complete before we make any judgments.


Q: Just a follow-up. The President is as concerned now as he was --


LOCKHART: I think what I said is that we will wait until the process
is complete. We're not going to provide an inning-by-inning analysis
of where we are. We have taken an important first step here, but when
the process is over, we'll make a judgment.


Q:  Who was in on that meeting, Joe?



LOCKHART: I know on our side John Podesta and Beth Nolan. I don't know
who the Attorney General brought with her.


Q:  How long do you expect that process to take?



LOCKHART: I would go to Justice for the details on how these things
work.

...

Q: Was the review of the Lee case something that the President asked
the Attorney General to do, or was she doing it before she got here?


LOCKHART: I think the Attorney General made clear that in a case like
this, with a judgment like this from the judge, that there would be a
review.


Q:  Did he ask her without her --



LOCKHART: I think as the President said, he looked forward to talking
to her about what they would do. When she came over here, she fully
briefed him on what they would do, including this review.