Bill Clinton: “No, I'm bewildered by it. The only reason I made no public statement yesterday, let me say, the only reason I made no…”

“No, I'm bewildered by it. The only reason I made no public statement yesterday, let me say, the only reason I made no public statement yesterday is that I had nothing to add to what was being said, and I literally did not know until rather late in the day whether anybody was still alive other than those who had been actually seen and taken to the hospital or taken into custody. It was purely and simply a question of waiting for events to unfold. I can't account for why people speculated one way or the other, but I talked to the Attorney General on the day before the action took place. I talked to her yesterday. I called her again late last night after she appeared on the Larry King show, and I talked to her again this morning. It is not possible for a President to distance himself from things that happen when the Federal Government is in control. I will say this, however. I was, frankly, ``surprised'' would be a mild word, to say that anyone that would suggest that the Attorney General should resign because some religious fanatics murdered themselves. I regret what happened, but it is not possible in this life to control the behavior of others in every circumstance. These people killed four Federal officials in the line of duty. They were heavily armed. They fired on Federal officials yesterday repeatedly, and they were never fired back on. We did everything we could to avoid the loss of life. They made the decision to immolate themselves. And I regret it terribly, and I feel awful about the children. But in the end, the last comment I had from Janet Reno is when--and I talked to her on Sunday--I said, ``Now, I want you to tell me once more why you believe, not why they believe, why you believe we should move now rather than wait some more.'' And she said, ``It's because of the children. They have evidence that those children are still being abused and that they're in increasingly unsafe conditions, and that they don't think it will get any easier with the passage of time. I have to take their word for that. So that is where I think things stand.''”