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| ATTORNEY GENERAL RENO | |
 October 14, 1998 
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JANET RENO: Thank you. It's good to be here. MARGARET WARNER: I want to ask you a little bit more about the announcement you and the FBI director made today about charging this fugitive, Eric Rudolph, with these various bombings, including the Olympic Park bombing. What led you to connect him to all of these various incidents? |
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Search for Eric Rudolph.
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JANET RENO: Well, as you know, an arrest warrant was issued from Rudolph today, but the affidavit remained sealed, so we can't discuss it. But the work went into this effort by local detectives, by the FBI, by ATF, has been really a model of the joint investigation tying pieces together, doing excellent work, and I think it's very important. MARGARET WARNER: There have been some reports that there was a lot of physical evidence in common - nails used in some of the bombs, there were steel plates that directed the blast certain ways, and I think Mr. Freeh even referred to this - I guess - last May, when they posted the big million dollar reward for him. Can you confirm that, at least, that some of that connects?
MARGARET WARNER: Now, he's been on the run since, what, January, since the abortion clinic bombing. Why is he so hard to capture? JANET RENO: I think he is prepared for something like this. I think he knows where he's at and he knows the territory. He has prepared and trained himself for it, and he's experienced in survival. MARGARET WARNER: You mean, he's really a survivalist? JANET RENO: That's what it seems to be. MARGARET WARNER: Now, do you all still think he's in this area, I guess, in western North Carolina, in the mountains there? JANET RENO: They believe that - the people who've been out there - that he is in western North Carolina or Tennessee or in that area of the mountains. MARGARET WARNER: And at one point I think you had something like 200 various law enforcement agents looking for him or involved in the search. Is the search still as intensive? JANET RENO: It still is intensive but it comes and goes, as different leads develop, or as different processes have to be pursued to make sure that we exhaust every possible lead. The FBI agent in charge of the investigation has said that he has not lacked for resources, and we're committed to giving him what he needs.
JANET RENO: I think it's important, as we have developed the evidence that the people know what our conclusion is to date and I think it will be helpful in alerting people to the fact that this is a random killer who has operated in different venue. He's dangerous, and he should be brought to justice. MARGARET WARNER: And do you have any information or reason to believe that he's planning other attacks? JANET RENO: Considering what he's done to date I think it is important that he be apprehended as early as possible, that he be brought to justice to avoid harm to anyone else. |
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Killing of a gay college student.
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MARGARET WARNER: I wanted to turn now, if I could, to the beating and subsequent death of this gay University of Wyoming student, Mathew Shepherd. After he died earlier this week, you took the occasion to call on Congress to pass a hate crimes prevention bill that is up there, that is pending. Explain, if you could, what a hate crimes law - what kind of a difference it would make in cases like this.
Right now, the bill - I mean, the act as it exists today, provides that you can take action when it is directed against race, religion, national origin, and/or color. But you can't do so if it does not involve a federally protected activity. What this law would do - what this act, if we can get it passed, would do would be to say, okay, it may be federally protected to be on the street, but if you're on the private property 10 feet away from the street, that's not federally protected activity and therefore there would not be federal - a basis for a federal charge in that case. Thus, it becomes so important that we protect the right regardless of where the person stands, or what property they stand on, we have an interest in protecting people against hate, against discrimination, against violence, based on bigotry. MARGARET WARNER: Though, if such a law were on the books, would it have prevented conceivably what happened at the University of Wyoming? JANET RENO: It is hard to say - I can't really talk about that case, because it is a pending case, and it is appropriate for the local prosecutor to proceed as he is. We have been in touch with the U.S. attorney. But it is important for government to speak out against acts such as this. But this bill precedes this terrible, terrible tragedy in Wyoming, and we should look at it on its own and the need for it. If we see a terrible act committed and the state comes to us and says we don't have the resources to pursue this, we have a small county, it's a small jurisdiction, we need your help. We're limited in how we can help, because we don't have jurisdiction. This would give us jurisdiction in instances where the violence was focused on sexual orientation, on gender, or on disability.
JANET RENO: No. What we would do is consult with local authorities in those situations if they refused to do it, if they were unable to do it, if they asked us to do it, if we had the resources, and it might be a variety of reasons, but we would work it out with them as to what was in the best interest of the case, because in many instances, local prosecutors pursue it, do a good job, and achieve justice. They are on the front lines. We serve - if you will - as a backup to them and as an assurance that the federal interest in eradicating violence that is prompted by bigotry is eliminated. MARGARET WARNER: Now, some 40 states have hate crimes laws. Wyoming is not one of them. And in, I think, 20 or 22 of those states sexual orientation is included. Did it make a difference in those states, just in terms of - you spoke of the symbolic value - of declaring that government stood against hate crimes, did it make a difference when these states passed hate crimes in terms of the frequency with which they were committed? JANET RENO: I don't have the statistics on what states have done based on the breakdown, but what is important is that even in some instances the state may pass a hate crimes act but there may be another state evidentiary problem that limits what the state can do in a particular case, whereas, the federal government would have broader authority if it had jurisdiction. I think we're all interested in trying to do whatever is right under the law and under the Constitution to try to protect against violence that is produced by bigotry. MARGARET WARNER: Finally on this point, you know, critics say the problem with it is, it gets into the government or authorities trying to determine motive even before there's been a trial, but how do you know if something's been a hate crime? JANET RENO: Basically, a hate crime is a crime directed against a group or a person who belongs to a group in a discriminatory way and a way that is prompted by bigotry, prompted by hatred. And that is what this government has been against for so long. It has spoken out in terms of race, religion, national origin, and color, and it should do the same. People shouldn't be treated differently, and most of all, they shouldn't be the victim of violence based on who they are and not what they've done. |
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The Starr investigation.
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MARGARET WARNER: Turning now to the Starr investigation, you announced last Friday that your office was - or your Department was conducting a review of certain allegations involving independent counsel Kenneth Starr. What are you looking at there?
MARGARET WARNER: But are you speaking of allegations from the president's attorney that somehow Mr. Starr's office misled you in coming and asking for the expanded authority to look into the Lewinsky matter? JANET RENO: We're reviewing the matters that Mr. Kendall raised in his letter to me and any additional information that has been brought to our attention. MARGARET WARNER: In retrospect, do you have any second thoughts about your decision to recommend that he take on this expanded authority, as opposed to say asking another prosecutor to look into it? JANET RENO: I would not comment until we've completed the review and any appropriate action that followed the rule. MARGARET WARNER: And your office said on Friday that this was not a "formal inquiry." Could you just explain layman's terms what's the difference between the review you're doing and a formal inquiry. JANET RENO: What we're doing is reviewing it to see whether we should open an investigation, a formal investigation, whether there's a basis for an investigation and what should be done, whether there is no basis for it. |
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Campaign finance reform.
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J MARGARET WARNER: Now, on campaign finance you do have three formal inquiries looking into the financing of the 1996 Democratic presidential campaign, as I understand it. I know you can't speak about the substance of those, but can you tell us where those stand just sort of timetable-wise? JANET RENO: The 90 days are coming up. I think the first one is probably towards the end of November, but I'm not sure. I take my memory with a grain of salt. The schedule is back at my desk. MARGARET WARNER: And that is the 90 days - at that point you would have to decide whether to appoint an independent - JANET RENO: The statute provides for an application in certain instance, or it provides that it could be closed in certain instances, or it provides that I could request an additional 60 days. MARGARET WARNER: And you probably won't answer this, but do you - you've been under a lot of pressure from Republicans on the Hill to name an independent prosecutor in this matter. Do you have any second thoughts now, knowing what you know, that you didn't do it sooner?
MARGARET WARNER: Why do you think this particular matter has been so contentious between yourself and certain Republican - Republican leaders on the Hill? JANET RENO: In many instances it's not been contentious. I know they feel strongly about it, and they know that I'm trying to do what's right, according to my perspective, and that we disagree. With others, there's a certain amount of contention, but what I try to do is recognize that Congress has an oversight authority and at the same time I ask them to recognize that I have a responsibility to carry out the law free of unwarranted pressure and based on what people can submit to me in terms of evidence, law, and argument that goes to the evidence and the law. MARGARET WARNER: One final thing before we go, if I could just inquire about your health. How are you feeling? JANET RENO: I feel fine. I was back at work the next day, but everybody has been so wonderful to me, and I deeply appreciate it. MARGARET WARNER: Great. I hope that continues. Thanks for being with us. JANET RENO: Thank you. |
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MARGARET
WARNER: And with me now is the attorney general, Janet Reno. Welcome,
Attorney General Reno. Thanks for being with us. 
JANET
RENO: Since the affidavit is sealed, we obviously want to do what's
right by the investigation, but I can just confirm that we have tried
to pursue every lead, every forensic lead. 
MARGARET
WARNER: Do you think today's announcement or the publicity about today's
announcement might help? 
JANET
RENO: Hate crimes really attack all of society. They attack the group
the victim belongs to. They create a sense of risk for the people who
are the victims, or who are the targets, and that's the reason there's
been a long-standing federal commitment to eradicating or eliminating
violence, which is an act of discrimination or an act of bigotry against
a particular group, against a person because of who he is, not what
he's done. And with that, the administration, along with bipartisan
support in Congress, almost a year ago now filed this bill seeking to
make sexual orientation, disability, and gender part of protected groups,
protected against discriminatory violence. But it did more than that.
MARGARET
WARNER: So would it mean you would automatically go into a situation
like this, or only if you were asked by the local authorities? 
JANET
RENO: Obviously, I can't discuss what we're looking at, but we're reviewing
all the matters that have been brought to our attention recently to
see what course of action the Department should take. 
JANET
RENO: I try to do everything based on what I think is right. I look
at the law. I look at the evidence. And I try to say to people, look,
don't pressure me, it's not going to help one way or the other; I'm
not going to react to it. I'm just going to try to do what I think is
right. 
