NRA-ILA FAXLINE NRA Institute for Legislative Action 11250 Waples Mill Road * Fairfax, VA 22030 Phone: 1-800-392-8683 * Fax: 703-267-3918 7/21/95 NRA-ILA Special Report THE WACO HEARINGS: DAY THREE Rep. Brewster Says Treasury Secretary Asked For No Embarrassing Questions "I was called by a very high-up official in the administration before (the hearings) started, asking me to not ask any questions that would make the administration look bad," Brewster told The Daily Oklahoman's Washington bureau. "I couldn't believe it." He later identified the official as Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin. -- Oklahoma City, AP, July 21, 1995 Plan? What Plan? Conflicting Opinions Among Treasury Officials Just two days prior to the 1993 raid on Mount Carmel, Treasury officials admitted that they thought it would be wise to call off plans for the incursion. However, former BATF Director Steve Higgins disagreed. He called for the plan to proceed as scheduled, as long as the undercover agent in the house reported that nothing out of the ordinary was going on. Mr. Higgins believed that that was going to be their last opportunity to arrest Koresh. Undercover agent Rodriguez reported that the Davidians knew the BATF was coming, a circumstance that is certainly not ordinary. Phillip Chojnacki, former BATF special agent in charge in Houston, and Chuck Sarabyn, former BATF ASAC in Houston, testified that they never knew there was a plan to abort. In addition, they claimed that they did not even know that the element of surprise was gone. Lewis Merletti, deputy director of the Treasury Department review team, however, stated that everyone he interviewed after the raid said they knew they were to abort if the Davidians were aware of the plans. Regardless of the orders, BATF agents were apparently set on carrying off the raid. The Ends Don't Always Justify the Means Reps. Schiff and Buyer concurred today that certain Committee members are using Koresh's actions as a smokescreen for the hearings. The hearings are to uncover any abuse of power by BATF and other government officials, not to question Koresh's actions. Because Koresh broke a law, he should not be denied due process. Schiff stated, "Koresh's depravity doesn't excuse law enforcement errors." Rep. Buyer pointed out that it is wrong to believe that the ends justified the means in a situation like Waco, where many innocent lives were lost. The day in America when we refuse to look into law enforcement activities because the parties are guilty, is the day that tyranny rules America, according to Rep. Shadegg. "You Want Taint ...?!" Rep. Barr emphasized the fact that we've heard a "great deal about taint," and he had the documents to prove it today. Barr displayed big blow-ups of a Treasury Department inter-office memo that placed serious constraints on the investigation into the Waco incidents. The following are excerpts from that memo: "DOJ does not want Treasury to conduct any interviews or have discussions with any of the participants, who may be potential witnesses; the prosecutors do not want us to generate additional Jencks, Brady or Giglio material or oral statements which could be used for impeachment. "...at some point we are going to have to interview the crucial witnesses and perhaps may have to take statements; while we may be able to wait for some of them to have testified in the criminal trial, the passage of time will dim memories;... DOJ does not want us to make any findings or draw any conclusions from what we review; the prosecutors are concerned that anything negative, even preliminary, could be grist for the defense mill." Back to the Warrant... Steve Higgins and other BATF officials stated that after February 12, 1993, all methods of entry into the house were abandoned, with the exception of a dynamic entry. Yet former Secretary Bentsen continues to say that their mission was to peacefully serve the warrant. However, he claims that sending an agent to the door would have been a death wish. Never mind the fact that people from the Sheriff's Department had been out to see Koresh several times. According to Bentsen, there was just no way to serve the warrant in a safe and peaceful manner. Perhaps he forgot that the agents were even INVITED into the house by Koresh himself! What About the Children? Rep. Mark Souder questioned Joyce Sparks, an agent of the Texas Protective Services who worked on abuse cases involving Davidian children, about the planned raid. Rep. Souder pointed out that Attorney General Janet Reno went ahead with the raid "because of the children." When Sparks was asked her feelings about the raid, she said, "Well, we recovered an arsenal of weapons, but we lost 20 children. I'd say there was a flaw in that plan." Line of the Day... Several Committee members have claimed that the hearings are a waste of taxpayers' money and that no new facts are being presented. NOT TRUE!! The American public is only now able to hear many of the facts for the first time -- facts that perhaps only the Congress has heard before: * BATF used a non-existent drug lab to summon military aid. * Some Treasury officials wanted to call off the raid. * The raid should have been called off since the element of surprise was gone, yet the orders were ignored. * There appears to have been an attempt by DOJ officials to delay the investigatory process into Waco. Former Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen even claimed that no new facts were being uncovered, yet when questioned with regard to his viewing of the last two days of hearings, he admitted that he had not seen very much of the hearings. EVEN LOWER MEMBER DISCOUNT ON TRANSCRIPTS!! Complete transcripts of the hearings are available to NRA members for an even LOWER DISCOUNT RATE of $9.95 a day!! Call Jack Graeme at the Federal News Service at 1-800-969-3677 to receive a daily transcript. Be sure to mention that you're an NRA member to secure the incredible discount rate. Hearing quotes excerpted from Federal News Service transcripts. =+=+=+=+ 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.