Danforth, Clinton Discuss Branch Davidian Raid
President Clinton submitted to a brief interview Wednesday with former Sen. John C. Danforth, the special counsel looking into the government’s 1993 raid on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, the White House said.
In a three-sentence statement, the White House said Clinton voluntarily agreed to be interviewed and the two spoke in the morning by telephone for 15 minutes.
“Consistent with past practice, no further statement about the interview will be made,” it said.
Last month, after conducting a 10-month probe, Danforth released an interim report exonerating government agents and officials in the events that led to the April 19, 1993, deaths of 80 cult members.
Danforth was appointed by Atty. Gen. Janet Reno as an outside investigator after some members of Congress alleged there had been a cover-up.
Danforth said in his report that Branch Davidian leader David Koresh and several others from the group were responsible for what occurred near Waco.
More than 80 sect members, including Koresh, died in the fire, which followed a raid at the end of a 51-day siege. The standoff began Feb. 28, 1993, when government agents tried to serve a warrant on Koresh, also known as Vernon Howell. A gunfight erupted, killing four of the agents and six sect members.
Danforth is still looking into whether there was an attempt by the FBI to hide whether it used potentially incendiary devices.
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