Reno Calls It A 'Miscommunication' (3/12/97)

Republicans Pressure Reno For Independent Counsel (3/5/97)

Reno: Independent Counsel Not Needed Yet (2/27/97)

U.S. Department of Justice

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China Briefing Fallout

Attorney General faces 'China connection' controversy, congressional call for independent counsel

WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, March 13) -- Attorney General Janet Reno said today that soon after the FBI told her last May of a possible attempt by China to influence congressional campaigns, she attempted but failed to pass the information directly to National Security Advisor Anthony Lake.

Unable to reach Lake, Reno told reporters, she decided to let the FBI agents briefing the White House pass the information along to National Security Council staffers, with the full expectation that Lake would be informed.

"We assumed because it had been cleared that I could tell Tony Lake. I was not able to reach Lake and told them to make sure the briefing went forward and assumed that everybody would be briefed and that was the purpose of it," Reno said.

Reno explained that while she viewed the information as serious, she thinks it was up to the national security advisor to decide whether President Bill Clinton was briefed, since all intelligence from the different agencies passes through that office.

"I think the National Security Council should be determining what the president should know and not know, or needs to know," Reno said. "They may have had other information. They may have advised the president. They have the knowledge of what exists to date and what should be new and relevant to the president."

Contents of a sensitive June 1996 briefing of two NSC staff members by two FBI agents were not passed along to Lake, and thus not to the president. The NSC failure to "brief up the chain of command" led to a public feud between the White House and the FBI over who was to blame for Clinton not learning of the so-called "China connection."

The White House claimed NSC staff members were told not to disseminate the information. The FBI insisted that was not so. A day later White House and Justice Department officials said it was simply a "misunderstanding," but the FBI did not back down from its statement.

Reno today repeated the view that "people just had a different understanding of what was said. There was no attempt by the FBI to restrict it within the NSC."

The attorney general did not directly criticize the FBI or the NSC. Reno is well-known for avoiding public confrontation and criticism, and appeared displeased with the open argument between her boss and her premier law enforcement agency.

On the heels of this controversy, Reno will soon have to deal with the strongest push yet from lawmakers demanding that she appoint an independent counsel to investigate campaign fund-raising violations.

CNN has obtained a draft copy of a letter to the attorney general being circulated to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee by its chairman, Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). The four-page letter, dated March 13, asks Reno to appoint an independent counsel to "investigate possible fund-raising violations in connection with the 1996 presidential campaign."

"It is evident," the letter asserts, "that these questions cannot be properly investigated [by the Justice Department] without a conflict of interest, since investigating most of these questions will require inquiring into the knowledge and/or conduct of individuals at the highest levels of the Executive Branch."

While laudatory of Reno's professionalism, the letter notes that Reno herself testified in 1993 that there is an "inherent conflict of interest" whenever senior executive branch officials are being investigated by the Department of Justice.

The letter has already undergone at least one re-write and may undergo further editing. A source expects the final document will be sent to the attorney general by 3 p.m. ET today.

It is unclear which senators will sign the document, although it is expected to be signed by most if not all of the Republicans on the Judiciary panel. Some Democrats on the panel have already indicated they will not sign it. Their Republican colleagues accuse them of "playing games."

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) is circulating a similar letter among members of his committee. It could go to Reno on Friday.

CNN's Candy Crowley, Bob Franken and Terry Friedan contributed to this report.