NRA-ILA FAX NETWORK NRA Institute for Legislative Action 11250 Waples Mill Road * Fairfax, VA 22030 Special Vol 2, No. 31 7/19/95 Phone: 1-800-392-8683 * Fax: 703-267-3918 STAY ON TOP OF THE ACTION! Daily Waco Hearing Updates Now Available Through NRA-ILA FaxLine The long-awaited Congressional hearings on the 1993 Waco raid are officially underway! During the eight days of testimony, we anticipate that the facts surrounding the operation will at last be brought to light. Unfortunately, we also anticipate the media's coverage of this event may be scant. Rest assured, however, that NRA-ILA is working to ensure that you get the whole story on this tragedy and the hearings surrounding it. And we've employed our 24-hour fax-back system, NRA-ILA FaxLine, to bring you the latest, most accurate and up-to- date information available on the hearings. Each day, information on the hearings will be posted and made available to you via NRA-ILA FaxLine. Simply dial (703) 267-3734 from your fax machine and follow the voice instructions, and within minutes you'll have information on the day's developments. As an additional service to NRA members and NRA-ILA supporters, complete transcripts of the hearings will be available to NRA members at a special discount rate from the Federal News Service. Daily transcripts will be available for $95.00 per day. For your copy, please call Jack Graeme at the Federal News Service toll-free at 1-800-969-3677. Be sure to mention you're an NRA member to secure the special rate! So Stay On Top Of The Action! Utilize NRA-ILA FaxLine and get the information you need in minutes! Remember, you only pay for the cost of the telephone call. For more information on NRA- ILA FaxLine, or if you experience any problems with the system, please call NRA-ILA at 1-800-392-8683. As an example of the information available via NRA-ILA FaxLine on the Waco hearings, highlights of today's activities follow: WACO HEARINGS, DAY ONE: INVESTIGATION & WARRANT SERVICE "White House aide Rahm Emanuel ... was put in charge of coordinating the White House public response [to the Waco hearings], joining a team of Treasury Department aides working with some outside advice from John Podesta, the departed White House damage control czar." -- Washington Post, July 19, 1995 The most reported testimony on day one of the Waco hearings was the most troubling. Former Davidian member, Kiri Jewell, described in vivid detail how Davidian leader David Koresh sexually assaulted her when she was only ten. "David Koresh has never been a hero to me," responded U.S. Rep. Steve Schiff. "I think it's obvious that he broke laws. In my view, if he'd have surrendered, at some point, the greatest loss of life which did occur may well not have occurred.... And I want to say to you, Kiri, personally, that I'm very sorry that you were not protected from David Koresh. I'm very sorry that you were not protected during this hearing, because it could have been arranged that you testify with no cameras going if we had known what your testimony would have been, but I can only say to you I'm very glad you weren't in that compound in February of 1993, and later when it burned down." Focusing on the Issue The Congressional panel was created to resolve central questions on federal power and abuse of power: Did BATF act appropriately and lawfully in obtaining the warrant, serving the warrant, and enlisting the U.S. Military -- and did the FBI handle the siege and negotiation properly and lawfully. Majority members of the Crime and Criminal Justice Subcommittee and the National Security, International Affairs and Criminal Justice Subcommittee explained that their joint review of the tragedy near Waco, Texas, in 1993 is not a matter of condemning the already-discredited Davidian leader but clarifying the role and power of federal law enforcement. "The difference between David Koresh and [BATF and FBI] is that David Koresh was not working for the federal government in 1993, but the FBI and the ATF were all federal employees in 1993," said Congressman Schiff. Federal agencies "have an accountability to the government and to the people at all times, no matter what kind of people they are dealing with, so in my judgment, Mr. Koresh's personal practices, however despicable they obviously were, has nothing to do with a hearing on how [BATF] handles a firearms violation case." Clinton's Damage Control Team But if opening day of the Waco hearings is any indication, the Clinton Administration damage control team is hard at work with two tools in the toolbox: diversion and distraction. U.S. Rep. Charles Schumer lost no time in blurring the panel's central focus by charging NRA of unethical involvement in the hearing process. (For NRA's response, see the July 11 release titled "WHY DID JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SAY 'NO' TO X-RAY OF GUNS?" and the July 17 release titled "NRA CRITICIZES 'DIVERSIONARY TACTICS' AS WACO PROBE NEARS.") Schumer also devoted much of his time to the needless task of condemning David Koresh. Young Kiri Jewell's testimony painted Koresh as a villain, and no one in Congress was disagreeing. Key Issues in Warrant Service This first day of hearings centered on the adequacy of the investigation and search warrant stage of the operation. Several facts were established. First, the affidavit was built on stale heresay, some of it four years old at the time the warrant was served. Second, it was based on comments by people with no expertise in firearms. Third, there was no attempt to bolster its credibility. Said Gerald Goldstein, President of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Waco tragedy is a reminder that Americans need to put teeth back into the Fourth Amendment. Yet many key issues were not brought to conclusion. For example, when questioned by Schumer, former McLennan County Sheriff's deputy Lewis Barber stated that his office had investigated complaints of alleged automatic weapons fire at the Mount Carmel Center. No one followed-up with questions about that investigation. Several sources have indicated that the investigation was prompted not by full-auto fire, but by legal trigger devices to mimic full-auto fire. When complaints were received, the Davidians took the trigger devices, called "ACT" devices, to the sheriff who confirmed their legality. Koresh later told former gun dealer Henry McMahon that the Davidians no longer used them due to neighbor complaints. A Summary of Comments Co-Chairman Bill Zeliff stated the reason for these hearings, he emphasized is that there will be "no more Waco's" and urged his colleagues to eliminate "political rhetoric" so that these questions can be resolved fairly, truthfully and in a bipartisan manner. Co-Chairman Bill McCollum concurred: before they close the book on those 90 human beings that died, we had better be sure we know exactly what happened. McCollum promised to (1) probe the lingering questions, (2) uncover the errors; (3) find out who should be held accountable; and (4) craft reforms to prevent these mistakes from happening again. Congressional Schumer said that from the beginning these hearings had an odor of bias hanging over them. Over the last week, he said they have discovered where that smell is coming from -- the NRA. He cannot say that this hearing will be fair, impartial or unbiased, because of a "black cloud of taint." U.S. Rep. Cardiss Collins from Illinois said that these hearings are completely tainted by the NRA. U.S. Rep. John Conyers said that this is just an extension of the attack on the assault weapons ban, and he does not want to lend any credibility at to these hearings because of the NRA's tainted actions. U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos said that he was appalled by the involvement of the NRA. But U.S. Rep. William Clinger said hearings are not a front for the NRA but rather for a serious look at federal law enforcement. He suggested that one possible consideration would be to consolidate law enforcement functions into fewer agencies. The Prosecutor: First Voice of "Panel B" At day's end, the Congress turned to "Panel B," a ten-person panel of witnesses consisting of a prosecutor, ATF and FBI personnel. U.S. Rep. Bob Barr's experience as a U.S. Attorney was brought to bear in an incisive interview of the first witness of "Panel B," assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Johnston. Johnstron began by strongly disputing reports in the press that he expressly approved a search warrant solely for a "dynamic entry." Prompted by Congressman Barr, Johnston then explained the importance of the Texas Rangers in investigating the raid: "If ATF had done this investigation themselves -- as I say, I have no reason to think they would have coached their own agents or would have suggested answers to their agents -- but I thought it would have been a real easy thing to criticize ... because ATF was under attack so strongly they may have banded together in interviews. "I don't know -- I don't think they would have done it intentionally but it was extremely important to have objectivity. My desire for the Texas rangers to do it was to seek the truth in the most un-intimidating circumstance possible. So that the Rangers could ask ATF agents, one-on-one, which they did, and audiotaped everything that happened. "I felt the ATF agents would be comfortable talking to the Rangers whereas they may not be comfortable talking to ATF supervisors and its Treasury Review -- there was conflict in ATF by this time. A lot of the agents at the staging area felt the element of surprise had been lost -- that there was a lot of conflict. The shooting review teams are often comprised of people involved in supervisory capacities. There was conflict between line agents and supervisors and I felt to give it the best chance of it being a truthful interview from each agent, the Rangers should do it, sir." "These [matters] certainly will be looked into," Congressman Barr promised. Tomorrow: a continuation of the FBI and ATF personnel on "Panel B" as Day Two of the Waco Hearings commences -- a service of the NRA-ILA FaxLine! =+=+=+=+ This information is provided as a service of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action, Fairfax, VA. This and other information on the Second Amendment and the NRA is available at any of the following URL's: http://WWW.NRA.Org, gopher://GOPHER.NRA.Org, wais://WAIS.NRA.Org, ftp://FTP.NRA.Org, mailto:LISTPROC@NRA.Org (Send the word help as the body of a message) Information may also be obtained by connecting directly to the NRA-ILA GUN-TALK Bulletin Board System at (703) 934-2121.