WASHINGTON – Attorney General Janet Reno has asked former Republican Sen. John Danforth – an Episcopal priest – to conduct an independent Waco probe, sources said last night.
“They’re discussing what his mandate would be,” said a Justice Department official who cautioned “there’s not a formal offer because they’re still chatting this through.”
Reno is under mounting pressure for an independent inquiry amid revelations that the FBI – despite six years of denials – used incendiary tear gas before the final assault on David Koresh’s Branch Davidian cult compound in Waco, Texas.
Danforth, 63, a respected moderate who was Missouri’s attorney general for eight years, is known for his independence and his focus on morality.
Critics want to know why use of the incendiary tear gas at Waco on April 19, 1993, was concealed, although no one has suggested it sparked the inferno that destroyed the compound, killing about 80 including many children.
Some Republicans speculated that Danforth might be concerned about his mandate because of a GOP view that Reno hindered other independent probes such as Kenneth Starr’s probes of Sexgate and Whitewater.
Republicans have expressed concern that Reno and President Clinton seem to be trying to make FBI Director Louis Freeh take the heat for the Waco mess although he didn’t take over the bureau until four months later.
Clinton this weekend voiced his support for Reno but pointedly avoided doing the same for Freeh, who irked the White House by calling for an independent probe of Democratic funny money.
The FBI’s use of tear gas isn’t the first credibility issue on Waco – Reno claimed soon after the fiery debacle that federal officials had to move in because of evidence children were being abused. No such evidence ever turned up.