Index

White House Daily Briefing, September 26, 2000

THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary September 26, 2000 PRESS BRIEFING BY JOE LOCKHART The James S. Brady Press Briefing Room 2:24 P.M. EDT Q: And your reaction to the Attorney General and the FBI Director testifying about the Wen Ho Lee case today? Do you think it's a useful way to answer some of these questions? MR. LOCKHART: Yes, I think there's -- the members of Congress have questions like the President has questions, like the American public has questions on this case. And it's important for the Attorney General and the FBI Director to go up to Congress and make their views known, answer -- I think they have answered many of the questions that were put to them today. There are other questions that I think the Office of Professional Responsibility will look at. But, overall, the Attorney General has made clear to the President and I think to the public, that the important thing here is that we look at the serious transgressions that happened in this case by Dr. Lee, which are embodied in the plea agreement, but also go and look seriously at any questions that have been raised about the conduct of the investigation and the prosecution. And both of those things are being done. Q: Is the President still troubled then? Is he still troubled that he doesn't feel he has the answers? MR. LOCKHART: I think there's a process here and I think we wouldn't go through a process if there weren't unanswered questions, for particularly some of the issues surrounding the detainment, the pre-prosecution -- or the pre-trial -- excuse me -- detainment. But I think, overall, the President agrees with the Attorney General that these were serious offenses, a serious offense that Dr. Lee pleaded guilty to. And I think that was the focus of most of the morning's discussion with the Attorney General and the FBI Director, just the details of the information that they had, and that the priority should be on finding out what happened to these tapes. Q: Was she able to assure the President that they would get the answer as to why he took this -- MR. LOCKHART: Absolutely. I think the President was assured by the Attorney General in his meeting late last week that all of these questions would be looked at in a very serious way and the President, Congress, and the American public would have a full accounting. Q: Does the President plan to, or want to, have a discussion about the case with the FBI Director? And does he still have confidence in his role leading the -- MR. LOCKHART: I think the President's view on the FBI Director remains the same, and I think he views it as appropriate to deal directly with the Attorney General on this matter. END 2:45 P.M. EDT