White House Press Briefing (09/11/98)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release September 11, 1998
PRESS BRIEFING BY
MIKE MCCURRY
The Briefing Room
1:55 P.M. EDT
MR. MCCURRY: I have very happy news, ladies and gentlemen. Rahm
Emanuel and Amy and little boy Zack have a new member of their family --
Ilana Merritt, born this morning, 7 pounds, 4 ounces. A little baby
girl. And Rahm has called in a couple of times and is as happy as he
can be, and mother is doing well, too. So some good news before we turn
to other news.
Q How can you respond to a report you don't have? Or do you have
it?
MR. MCCURRY: Well, you can't. I think, as the attorneys for the
President have made clear, this is a preliminary response based on the
numerous leaks that have occurred about the OIC referral that's been
made to the House of Representatives. Much of what we have given you is
based on the assessment we've seen as reported by many of you in the
room.
But we do expect to get -- by the way, we do not have the report
yet. We're going to get notified here if it arrives while this briefing
is in progress. And then our current plan is at 4:30 p.m. we'll have
Chuck Ruff, the White House Legal Counsel; David Kendall, the
President's private attorney; some of the other attorneys who have been
working on this -- Nicole Seligman, Cheryl Mills, Lanny Breuer -- they
will be available in the Roosevelt Room to your pool and to however many
other people we can fit in. And after we accommodate the regular pool
we have, we'll draw names in a hat and try to take additional people.
Q Will that be available on camera?
MR. MCCURRY: I have no objection to that.
Q It won't be on the mult, in other words?
MR. MCCURRY: We can feed it to the mult, can't we? I'm out of my
league when it comes to technical details.
Q Because of the interest, why not have it here?
MR. MCCURRY: Larry, for a good reason and one that we all need to
think about maybe that the Association can help. This space here is not
accessible to people with disabilities, and so we will --
Q -- how can that be?
MR. MCCURRY: I don't know how that can be. That's a very good
question. And it's one that I intend to look into as one of my last
official acts.
Q We could hand him a mike here.
MR. MCCURRY: No, we're going to do it in the Roosevelt Room. I'm
not going to negotiate the details.
Q How late was the President up last night. He said it was very
late. And also, he looks like he scratched himself.
MR. MCCURRY: That's a little bit of his rosacea, which comes out
from time to time. He got back here at 10:00 p.m. He worked on this
until early this morning -- I don't know how late. But he wrote it out
himself on three pages of White House note paper.
Q Mike, why did he decide it was important to apologize to Monica
Lewinsky?
MR. MCCURRY: I'm not going to try to get into the President's
head. I think he gave a very personal, poignant, heartfelt set of
remarks today that stand on their own, and they don't need a press
secretary or flak to say anything further about that.
Q Does he mean by that that he's had a conversation with Ms.
Lewinsky, or is he just talking in the abstract?
MR. MCCURRY: No, I think that was an apology. Whether he follows
up with any additional apology, I'll check. And if he does, I'll let
you know.
Q So you're saying that he has not so far had a conversation with
Ms. Lewinsky or any member of her family?
MR. MCCURRY: That's correct.
Q And when he said that he's asking for pastoral support, what
does he mean by that? Is he saying that he's going to seek some kind of
counseling?
MR. MCCURRY: No, in the ministry to him and to his family by
people of faith that he respects, part of the pastoral care that's being
given to him is the kind of pastoral counseling one would expect.
Beyond that, given how private and personal this is, and how directly it
affects the President and the First Lady, I'm just not going to talk
about it. I mean, whatever the President wants to say about it, that's
entirely his business. He's told you what he told you today. I think I
have some obligation to tell you only about the things that we normally
report here.
If it's something involving -- a medical condition was involved,
we do report on the President's medical condition. I've talked to his
physician. He's not under any kind of medical treatment for anything
involving a mental condition.
Q Let me be clear, Mike, are you saying that he is not seeking any
kind of psychological counseling?
MR. MCCURRY: He is seeking pastoral support and that of other
caring people so that they can hold him accountable to the commitment
he's made for repentance.
Q Who would those other caring people be?
MR. MCCURRY: I'm not going to speculate on that.
Q Mike, on the medical -- on Wednesday Senator Hatch said that the
President has a problem and needs help regarding his reckless conduct.
Maryland historian -- citing John Moses, M.D. --
MR. MCCURRY: That's the local angle you're pursuing. (Laughter.)
Q -- and writes that the problem may be satyriasis. And my
question is, have you ever seen all of the President's medical records
so that you are able to rule out satyriasis?
MR. MCCURRY: I'm very well familiar with the President's medical
records since that was so extensively debated in the 1996 campaign. I
have spoken to the President's physician; the President is not under any
medical treatment for any psychiatric or mental condition.
Q But, Mike, this is titled "The Preliminary Response" and it
notes that people that wrote it didn't have access to the report and
when you get the report there will be a more detailed response. Can you
give us some sense of the time frame -- I mean, you'll get it a little
later you said. Are we talking about tonight, tomorrow, the next day --
MR. MCCURRY: I think I will hold that in reservation for the
folks who brief at 4:30 p.m. because they are the ones that will be
preparing whatever additional response we make. We need to see the
report, see what other allegations or issues arise, and see to what
extent they've been addressed by this document, see whether we need to
put out any kind of amendment or additional document. But I don't think
we will know that until they have some opportunity to go through the
document.
Q Do you think it's appropriate, Mike, that the Ken Starr report
includes salacious details of the sexual relationship with Monica
Lewinsky?
MR. MCCURRY: I think that's addressed in the document we've given
you.
Q How are you going to mount a --
Q -- the beginning of the debate in the House there was some
strong words already and it doesn't sound terribly bipartisan at the
outset.
MR. MCCURRY: Well, we will follow that debate, and I think the
leadership of both sides of the aisle have tried to advise members of
the proper tone and decorum, and we intend to try to maintain the
dignity of that process in the statements we make here.
Q Mike, in the meeting yesterday with the President and the
Cabinet, The Washington Post has a story today of a very contentious
debate between the President and Secretary Shalala --
MR. MCCURRY: I've heard much different accounts from
participants. I've heard that that incident as reported was a small
fraction of what was a remarkable meeting. But it was private, and
beyond that, I'm not going to go further.
Q Mike, the President said earlier that he wasn't contrite enough
in his first apology. Do you think if the President had been more
contrite, left out attacking Ken Starr, and apologized to Monica
Lewinsky the first time that we wouldn't be going through this --
MR. MCCURRY: I just have no possible way of imagining what the
answer might be.
Q Well, do you think it would have lessened --
MR. MCCURRY: I'm not going to try to guess.
Q Does the President still intend to stay the course, and does he
still have no intention of resigning?
MR. MCCURRY: Absolutely.
Q Does the President have any announcements about additional staff
people coming on board?
MR. MCCURRY: No.
Q Do you have any information for us about when that might be
happening?
MR. MCCURRY: They been talking to people how to round out
whatever team is needed for the President as they go into this next
phase of this issue. And we will report personnel amendments,
additions, as we need to. I'm not aware that we're going to have any
anytime soon.
Q Can you just describe what -- when you are looking for these
people, what will they do? What are you looking for --
MR. MCCURRY: They would help the President with our basic
strategy, which is to make the strongest possible case that there has
not been an impeachable offense here. I want to repeat because some of
you have asked that I at least do some of our rebuttal here, but I think
right at the beginning of the report it about sums up the argument here.
And I want to give it to you.
"The simple realty of this situation is that the House is being
confronted with evidence of a man's efforts to keep an inappropriate
relationship private -- a personal failure that the President has
acknowledged was wrong, for which he apologized and for which he accepts
complete responsibility; a personal failure for which the President has
sought forgiveness from members of his family, members of the Cabinet,
members of Congress, and the American people.
Such a personal failing does not, however, constitute treason,
bribery, and high crimes and misdemeanors that would justify the
impeachment of the President of the United States.
The President himself has described his conduct as wrong. But no
amount of gratuitous details about the President's relationship with Ms.
Lewinsky, no matter how salacious, can alter the fact that, one, the
President did not commit perjury; two, the President did not obstruct
justice; three, the President did not tamper with witnesses; and four,
the President did not abuse the power of his office."
So what the President will assemble is a team of people that will
help him make that case as vigorously as he can.
Q Mike, in two weeks the President will face the world leaders at
the United Nations General Assembly session. Do you think he'll be
effective? And also the U.N. is calling that the U.S. has not paid its
dues --
MR. MCCURRY: I'm confident that the President will be effective
in those meetings. He is well respected by his counterparts in this
world. They enjoy doing business with him personally. They know the
importance of doing business with the United States of America. And I
know that the President will represent the American people ably and
confidently when he meets with leaders at the U.N.
Now, one issue that will arise is U.N. arrears and our obligation
to pay our bills. And I'd be happy to have P.J. and David and others
who can go into that and brief a little bit on that if you'd like right
now.
Q Mike, has Secretary Shalala had any follow-on conversations
yesterday after meeting this morning with the President? Do you expect
her to remain in the administration?
MR. MCCURRY: I don't know for a fact that she has, but she was
there this morning at the breakfast and I think had the opportunity to
talk to the President.
Q Have there been resignations on the staff or Cabinet?
MR. MCCURRY: Well, mine. I'm aware of mine, but I don't know
about others.
Q Mike, I understand that the President's very narrow definition
of sexual relations is being used to refute any possible charges of
perjury. But do you think that distinction between sexual relations or
sexual contact or stimulation, or whatever you want to call it, will fly
with the American people?
MR. MCCURRY: The American people will decide to make of this
whole matter what they want to make of it. I'm not going to attempt to
kind of get into that issue because I imagine that's one you're want to
prefer to hear from the President's attorneys.
Q Did I understand you right when you said that the President has
not sought and is not seeking psychological counseling?
MR. MCCURRY: I was very clear on that point, yes.
Q Has the first family discussed Chelsea taking any time off from
school to help her father through this?
MR. MCCURRY: If they had, it would be entirely private and up to
them to report to you if they had.
Q The report at the end, in the summary, says, where is
Whitewater, and it talks about no charges involving FBI files, White
House Travel Office. Is the White House confident that there are no
possible indictments pending for any of those cases?
MR. MCCURRY: I'll refer that to the lawyers. I'm certainly not
aware of any.
Q On a related question, are there any indictments related to --
MR. MCCURRY: Look, you can't ask me about possible indictments.
You have to go to Mr. Starr and to his associates to ask those
questions. I can't answer those for you.
Q But the report says very confidently, Mike --
MR. MCCURRY: Well, I think that's probably based on knowing what
the testimony has been of the individuals involved and seeing what kind
of progress, or lack thereof, has been made to date on those matters.
Q Mike, some of this report hinges on what the President's lawyers
or the legal team believes to be the testimony of Betty Currie. How did
they get that information?
MR. MCCURRY: Precisely because of a question like that is why
we're going to make them available to you later.
Q Two questions. Did any staff people see the President's remarks
before he made them? Did he have any hopes that they would change the
atmosphere in which the report was received?
MR. MCCURRY: He did not discuss with anyone on the staff before
he made them. He did discuss the breakfast in a general briefing about
the breakfast itself with staff before it happened, a regular event
briefing, but not what he was going to say himself. And this breakfast
today, as you all know, has been scheduled for quite some time, long
before we knew that today would be the day that this report was being
made available.
Q Mike, is the President prepared to at some point call on the
American people to express their support for him to help him get through
this?
MR. MCCURRY: He has not elected to do that to this point.
Q Mike, how would you describe this day? Is this the saddest day
of the Clinton presidency?
MR. MCCURRY: I'd have to think about that. No, I think the days
in which we've dealt with the tragic deaths of people, the day that Ron
Brown lost his life -- I mean, I don't know how you could possibly
compare this day to any of those days.
Q Are there letters and calls coming into the White House in
unusual volume, and what are they saying?
MR. MCCURRY: No, I think there are just a lot of hits on our web
site -- which is, by the way, www.whitehouse.gov, where you can get our
prebuttal. I also should say that we would extend our gratitude to
Chairman Hyde, who has agreed to post that document that you have now
received along with the Starr report when it's made available. Our
understanding is that they will be made available electronically
simultaneously so people can see them side by side, and we take that as
a sign of good faith that they're going to extend to us the opportunity
to make the case that we believe needs to be made on behalf of the
President.
Q Mike, will you be releasing any of the exchanges between the
President and Monica Lewinsky later or at some point, that have been
referred to in this document?
MR. MCCURRY: I'll have to take that question or maybe you can
direct that to the attorneys later.
Q Will he be using any personal lawyers, or the government lawyers
to defend himself?
MR. MCCURRY: He would be using a combination of both. As you can
see from this document, both White House lawyers and his private
attorneys have participated together in crafting this document, as is
necessary and absolutely appropriate given that we are now dealing with
the constitutional process of impeachment.
Q Mike, in the President's talk this morning before the ministers,
he talked about letting go of his own anger and talked about atonement.
He clearly left the impression that he understood that character
assassination and attacks on some of the people who had been his
adversaries are not what he has in mind anymore, if he ever did. But
there's reports of White House staffers leaking stories about sex --
MR. MCCURRY: Carl, and those have been categorically denied by
the individuals involved and, as best as I can deny them here or say
that that has not been any part and parcel of the work that we've been
doing here out of this White House or that we've instructed anyone that
we're affiliated with outside the White House to do.
Q Can I follow up? Is the President going to make sure that
people on the staff know that?
MR. MCCURRY: Oh, he already has very clearly instructed all of us
to conduct ourselves in a way consistent with the tone of the message he
delivered today. And we are trying to do that.
Q Mike, has the President apologized individually to staff
members, as he has to Congress and the Cabinet?
MR. MCCURRY: Yes, he has, and it's up to them to say what they
want to say about that.
Q Mike, you described the President's state of mind today. Has he
been able to remain concentrated --
MR. MCCURRY: I don't need to because you had as revealing a
glimpse into his heart and soul as you could possibly have today in his
own words, so I don't need to say anything further.
Q I don't mean particularly what he was feeling today. I mean,
how has he been able to focus on his work?
MR. MCCURRY: He has been and he couldn't have been clearer about
that today.
Q The Senate Democrats yesterday indicated that one of the reasons
this matter needs to be dispensed with very quickly is because he's not
paying -- he's not able to pay sufficient attention to domestic and
international affairs. Are they just wrong about that?
MR. MCCURRY: I didn't hear any of them say that.
Q Daschle said that.
MR. MCCURRY: Well, I don't believe that to be the case.
Q What's the radio address on?
MR. MCCURRY: Something appropriate for the occasion. I don't
know. (Laughter.)
Q Mike, the President has said he wants to move ahead and go
forward with the nation's business, but is it possible to do that and
simultaneously --
MR. MCCURRY: It's not a question of whether it's possible to do
it, it's mandatory. We have to. The work of this government, the work
that we do in this world, the responsibilities for leadership the United
States of America has on this planet don't stop because of Monica
Lewinsky, and they never have. And the President has continued to do
the job he's been elected to do all throughout the last eight months.
Now, you all can choose to report on that or not report on that as you
see fit. But the President has known from the very beginning, day one,
that he cannot break that fundamental bond and that contract he has with
the American people, which is to do the job he was duly elected to do.
Q Well, Mike, in this process of repentance and making sure that
it's sustained that he talked about this morning, does he have anything
special planned -- any kind of event where he's going to be trying to
rebuild the American people's trust, or is just to go forward as he has
been?
MR. MCCURRY: He will first and foremost do the job he was elected
to do and do it to the best of his ability. And that's the most
fundamentally important thing that he can do to restore trust.
Q How about a regular news conference --
MR. MCCURRY: He's having a press conference next Wednesday, as I
already told you.
Q -- saying on the Hill that the President needs to heal right
now. But how can he deal with these domestic and world issues and heal
at the same time? I mean, this is a very serious situation he's going
through.
MR. MCCURRY: He's got the capacity to do that. He's
extraordinarily talented.
Q Mike, wasn't the President's speech today the one he should have
given on the 17th of August?
MR. MCCURRY: I'm not going to -- look, what use would there be in
me saying yes to that?
Q Mike, the Chancellor of New York's Jewish Theological Seminary
and the Episcopal Bishop of New York said yesterday that the President's
moral presence in the country has been undercut so badly that he cannot
lead.
MR. MCCURRY: Well, you had access to a number of religious
leaders who were here earlier day, and you could have interviewed them
and their different points of view.
Q May I finish?
MR. MCCURRY: No. (Laughter.) All right, go ahead.
Q -- from the president of his own denomination, which is the
biggest Protestant --
MR. MCCURRY: I'm aware of that. He has taken issue with his
denomination from time to time on things like the Disney boycott and
others. They're entitled to different points of view.
Q But one of those that came today was --
MR. MCCURRY: We'll come back.
Q Mike, during last night's Cabinet meeting, did the President
invoke the name of President Kennedy and his personal record in any kind
of personal defense or for any other reason?
MR. MCCURRY: It was a private meeting, and we're going to elect
not to talk about it.
Q Back in January, it wasn't private. And Secretary Shalala and
Albright and Daley came out here, and they personally put themselves on
the line for Clinton, and now it's private?
MR. MCCURRY: Many of them came out and talked to you last night.
I don't recall giving a readout on it --
Q None of the four people who were out here in January came out
last night.
MR. MCCURRY: -- and those people have been heard from.
Q No, they haven't --
MR. MCCURRY: Yes, they have. I've got a statement from Albright
right here if you haven't seen it.
Q The President said he'd been getting a lot of personal support.
Anything in the last 24 hours -- calls from international leaders,
anything like that that you'd like to tell us about?
MR. MCCURRY: There have been -- he has received a lot of support
domestically. I think there is a chance that he will have a call with
at least one foreign leader, but that has not occurred yet. If it does,
I'll let you know.
Q Well, how has he received that when you said you hadn't been
getting any unusual --
MR. MCCURRY: We've been getting -- no, I did -- we've been
getting --
Q I thought you said you just have been getting a lot of hits on
your web site.
MR. MCCURRY: No, we've been getting calls and the regular things
through our comment line and that sort of thing.
Q Mike, does the United States government have any reason to
believe that the mass shooting on the Russian nuclear submarine today
indicates a deterioration in the nuclear command and control in Russia?
COLONEL CROWLEY: It was an attack submarine --
MR. MCCURRY: P.J., do you know -- come on up. You want to do it?
(Laughter.) I've been otherwise occupied.
COLONEL CROWLEY: Clearly, the Russian defense establishment has
been going under some stress as they've gone through the same kind of
downsizing that the United States military has gone over the years.
This was an incident on a Russian attack submarine. I honestly don't
know at this point how it's been resolved, but it has nothing to do with
the safety of their nuclear forces.
Q Mike, next week you are leaving the White House and you have
been working with the President for so many years. What are you taking
with you, and what are you leaving behind? How will you remember this
President -- here in the White House?
MR. MCCURRY: I haven't had a chance to pack yet, so I don't have
an answer.
Q Mike, let me ask you two questions on foreign policy. Now that
Yevgeniy Primakov has been ratified by the Duma, does the President
intend to speak to him? And, number two, Richard Holbrooke seems to be
having problems with his ratification. Can you address both issues,
please?
MR. MCCURRY: Well, we have a statement from the President on
Ambassador Holbrooke's nomination. There are some matters that need to
be resolved before we can in due course forward that nomination to the
Senate. But the President is confident that he will be in a position to
do that as soon as these reviews are resolved, and he's confident that
they will be resolved in a way that allows us to proceed with the
nomination of someone who is going to do an extraordinarily good job at
the United Nations for us.
On the first question, he obviously intends to continue to have
dialogue with Prime Minister Primakov. My strong guess is -- and maybe
we can get some help -- my guess is that Vice President Gore will
probably more immediately have contact with him because at that level we
want to continue the working relationship that the Vice President has
traditionally had with the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation. So
I imagine that will be the first point of contact. But, of course we
will be extending the President's good wishes to him as he forms his
government.
Q Mike, just to go back to this notion that he might try to make
some extra efforts to rebuild trust with the American people, if he has
a press conference next week with Havel, that will be the third time in
as many weeks that he has to answer questions about this matter with a
foreign leader standing by his side. Has he given any thought to having
just a straightforward press conference by himself?
MR. MCCURRY: We have given a lot of thought to a lot of different
ways in which he would address the matter, and if we decide to have a
press conference, I'll certainly let you know.
Q Will the President stay in this country while the impeachment
proceeding is going on? I mean, is anything on --
MR. MCCURRY: I don't know how long the House will be occupied
with the matter, but we have a program of activity that we will pursue.
The President has responsibilities coming up --
Q Even travel out of the country?
MR. MCCURRY: The President has got responsibilities coming up
that involve travel to Asia for the meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation Forum. And I think, particularly at a time when we are
facing turmoil in the region -- in the economy of the Asian region, and
we've got a chance to meet with the leaders of the economies of that
region, it would be irresponsible for the President not to continue to
pursue his work as Commander in Chief and as the chief of America's
foreign policy.
Q -- reaction to the Congress adjourning to campaign in October
and leaving this whole matter hanging, or should they remain in session
and deal with it and close it?
MR. MCCURRY: As we are here now, we don't know what schedule the
House of Representatives will pursue as they undertake to review this
matter, so I don't think it would be proper until we know for certain
what they plan to do.
Q Senator Daschle and the other Democratic leaders proposed to the
President that there be a lame duck session or Congress just stay in
session. What does he think of that?
MR. MCCURRY: Well, I think the President wants to see this
expeditiously resolved. If we have a specific point that we want to
make on that issue, I'll come back to you on that.
Q Mike, if I could follow that -- given the President's desire to
see this expeditiously resolved --
MR. MCCURRY: Hey, wait a minute, you guys are on the same team,
so you -- (laughter) -- are you deferring to him?
Q I'm deferring to the senior correspondent.
MR. MCCURRY: All right, go ahead.
Q -- the importance of the matter is weighing, would he not want
lawmakers to wrap this up before going, and not put it on hold to go
back to their own districts?
MR. MCCURRY: I think the President would like to see it
expeditiously resolved. I'm being careful here because I don't think
it's the place of the executive branch to instruct the legislative
branch how to proceed when an impeachment proceeding is underway. This
is fundamentally a constitutional process, and I don't think the
presidency gives instructions to the House of Representatives on how to
consider the matter of impeachment. I think that would be highly
irregular.
Q But would you like it before the election, or after?
MR. MCCURRY: As a political matter, the President wants this
expeditiously resolved for all the reasons that a politician would want
this matter resolved, particularly because, as you now see, we believe
we have a very strong case to say that there should be no consideration
of impeachment because nothing arises that warrants impeachment. But
I'm being careful here because I think we all have to be careful as we
proceed in something that is a constitutional process.
Q Mike, is it your sense after the apology this morning that this
the last of the apologies we'll hear from the President, or is it
possible that there is even more to come?
MR. MCCURRY: I can't predict how the President will want to
address this matter as a human, as a personal matter, in the future. I
think he said in enormous amount today of a personal nature about how he
feels about this. I don't know of any plans for him to address it in
such a fashion again, but I think we have to leave open the right for
him to do what he feels he needs to do.
By the way, Joe says we have now -- as of, let's call it 2:18
p.m., we've received the referral of the independent counsel -- or our
copy of it.
Q In what form?
MR. MCCURRY: It came from the Hill and it came in a hard copy?
Brought it back in hard copy form.
Q Mike, do you foresee any possibility that the President might
eventually conclude that for the good of the country and for the good of
his party he would resign?
MR. MCCURRY: I don't foresee any such possibility.
Q Does he sympathize with the Reverend Henry Lyons, who has had
the same kind of problem? And would he be inclined to pardon him for
the embezzlement charges?
MR. MCCURRY: He sympathizes with the resolution that his church
has passed pertaining to the President's own matter.
Q Mike, in all of the President's expression of regrets, what we
haven't heard is an explanation for his recklessness, I mean, why he
would risk his presidency for this relationship and then to lie about it
--
MR. MCCURRY: Well, I would take some issue with that. If you
think about, in the context in which the President spoke, the humility
with which he described his own actions, I think that you might consider
otherwise.
Q Mike, was Henry Lyons invited to this breakfast?
MR. MCCURRY: Not that I'm aware of.
Q Mike, if I can follow up, how much has President Clinton robbed
himself of his own moral authority? And how much moral authority does
he have left?
MR. MCCURRY: Can I ask you a question? Why do you ask me a
question like that, which you know you're not going to get an answer
that's going to be useful to anyone? That's an argumentative question
just designed to look good.
Q Mike, a follow-up question on the trip to Asia. Is it still his
intention to go to India and Pakistan?
MR. MCCURRY: We still have that matter under review, and it has
been under review since the nuclear testing by both questions.
Q Do you have a timeline for --
Q Mike, many members of Congress -- the President's trip to India
and Pakistan, and also when the First Lady was in India, she promised
the people there that "if my husband wins the second term, I will bring
him to --
MR. MCCURRY: Right. Well, that, for the reason I just described,
their government put in jeopardy the President's ability to make that
trip under the right circumstances because of the conduct of a nuclear
test that was contrary to all the interests in the world community in a
more peaceful order.
Q Mike, is the President in a weak position going into the usual
budget end game because the fate of Congress is in his hands?
MR. MCCURRY: You all have hired so many pundits and
prognosticators, you've got access to people who have got knowledge who
can answer that question for you.
Q Mike, in this speech this morning, the President talked about
his recognition that the August 17th speech was not the right tone and
it was insufficiently contrite. Can you talk about, if you know, the
evolution of his recognition of that? Were there pivotal moments? Was
it just an accumulation of different things he heard from outside
people?
MR. MCCURRY: I think he's thought and obviously prayed a lot
about it in recent days. He's talked to ministers outside the White
House, some of whom were in attendance this morning. He's pondered and
meditated on some Scripture, which you could obviously tell from his
remarks today. So I think it comes from contemplation more than
anything else.
Q It had nothing to do with the fact that political pressures from
Democrats has been mounting?
MR. MCCURRY: Well, it had something to do in the way in which
those remarks were received and what people have told him about them,
and how he sees it as looking back through the prism of the way others
have heard and received the remarks, sure. I mean, the whole context in
which the matter has been absorbed by people here in Washington and by
the American people gave rise to him thinking that he had more that he
needed and wanted to say.
Q Mike, what's the status of a meeting with the congressional
bipartisan leadership? Is that going to come off next week? And is the
Lewinsky matter intended to be discussed at that, if it does?
MR. MCCURRY: Still under consideration, not yet scheduled, and
no.
Q Mike, do you foresee any major activity around here over the
weekend related to this?
MR. MCCURRY: I hope not, but that will depend on whether the
lawyers deem it necessary to prepare additional information. And by
4:30 p.m., when they're down to talk to you, they might have a better
idea of that.
Q Mike, did the President know that one of the clergy that he
invited this morning was Jimmy Carter's campaign manager for Illinois,
even though he edits a tax-exempt magazine called "The Christian
Century"? Was he aware of that, Mike?
MR. MCCURRY: I have not a clue whether he was aware of that or
not.
Okay, we're going to do the radio address live tomorrow, and I
think they still actually are haggling over the topic.
Q Mike, if I could just get your reaction officially -- the
document, the Ken Starr report, has now officially been released on the
web, and the accusation include lying under oath --
MR. MCCURRY: Okay, Wolf, we've got lawyers that will be here at
4:30 p.m. and their purpose in being there is to respond. And you've
got our document we've talked about already.
Saturday we've got the radio address. Sunday the President will
not have any scheduled events, but he plans to be stay here. He'll be
at the White House. Monday we've got the speech up in New York --
Q Going to church on Sunday?
MR. MCCURRY: We don't know. We never know until that day whether
he goes or not.
Monday we've got the speech up in New York and the events -- the
political events afterwards.
Q What time does he go up?
MR. MCCURRY: He leaves at roughly 9:30 a.m.
Q And that's a foreign policy --
MR. MCCURRY: He's going to talk at the Council of Foreign
Relations on the global economy, the interdependence of regional and
domestic economies in the era that we live in and the importance of
moving forward with things that can help restore stability and coherence
to the global trading system and to the global economy -- IMF funding in
particular.
Q He's going to the theater?
MR. MCCURRY: He's got the event at the Lion King Monday night in
New York. That's part of the fundraiser that they're doing up in New
York.
Tuesday the President will attend a military readiness conference
at Ft. McNair. This has been a very important and somewhat contentious
issue in budgetary matters, as most of you know, and he wants an
opportunity to talk to the commanders in chief and the service chiefs,
the regional commanders in chiefs on readiness issues. He'll be back
from Ft. McNair late afternoon. And he's got a fundraiser that night
for the gubernatorial candidate down in Arkansas.
Wednesday is the state visit by President Havel we've already
talked about, and a state dinner that night.
Thursday the President travels to Cincinnati, leaving the White
House at 10:45 a.m. He's got a fundraising lunch out there and he goes
back to Boston for one of the Unity receptions that we're doing with the
campaign committees up in Boston. And then back here late in the
evening, early in the morning.
Friday, he's got a meeting of the President's race board
initiative. He'll be making remarks to them, and then they've got one
of our millennium lectures that evening in the East Room, commemorating
American jazz -- something to preserve for the future.
Q Mike, the New York State Democratic Party asked the White House
not to come on Monday, because they said it would interfere with the
fundraising efforts for the -- New York Senate race.
MR. MCCURRY: I saw -- I had meant to look into that and I'm aware
that there had been some criticism of that. These are dates that we
arranged with the DNC, the DCCC, the Senate Campaign Committee, and my
understanding is, because they wanted to build the event in New York
around this performance of the Lion King, that was the only day they
could get it because Monday being the day that theaters are usually dark
they had to schedule it that day. Beyond that, I think the DNC folks
have been able to give more information about what our contact was with
the local party leaders up there.
Q Does he think that Congressman Hoyer of Maryland's denunciation
of a Reuter's reporter in Moscow makes up for Governor Glendening's
leaping off the sinking ship?
MR. MCCURRY: Somebody should be taking a flying leap somewhere --
(laughter.) No, he's --
Q Are you suggesting that for the Governor of Maryland?
MR. MCCURRY: No, I had more -- kind of you in mind. But that's
-- (laughter.) No. No, that's not fair.
Larry, did Steny ever call you?
Q Yes, we talked already. I don't want to -- (Laughter.)
MR. MCCURRY: Does anyone have something really serious to get?
No, yes? Good-bye.
THE PRESS: Thank you.
END 2:30 P.M. EDT
#532-09/11
