WASHINGTON -- Sen. Orrin Hatch didn't wait for Attorney General Janet Reno to appoint, as she promised Friday, an independent counsel to probe government conduct at the Branch Davidian siege.
He has launched his own Senate Judiciary Committee probe into the matter, and aides said hearings on it are likely.Hatch, R-Utah, wrote Reno on Friday to request committee access to all records and materials that relate to the use of military gas rounds or other pyrotechnic devices used during the 1993 siege in Waco, Texas.
Hatch said the committee is upset at reports that the FBI used at least two military tear-gas canisters on the final day of the standoff with the Branch Davidian cult, where 80 members died in a fire.
"Until last week's disclosure, the Justice Department had consistently denied using any incendiary devices at Waco," Hatch wrote.
"The admission that incendiary devices were used is troubling, if for no other reason than the Justice Department had adamantly denied their use from the outset of this tragedy."
Hatch also said some Justice Department documents, which have been described to him, "appear to demonstrate that officials in the Justice Department were or should have been aware that pyrotechnic devises were used at Waco."
Hatch wrote that he still wants Reno to appoint an outside counsel to also investigate the matter fully, which she promised to do at her weekly press briefing on Friday.
"The American people must have faith in the independence of this inquiry for those allegations to be fully laid to rest. Sadly, due to their prior conduct and incomplete disclosures, neither the Justice Department nor the White House has credibility on this subject," Hatch wrote.
He also suggested that an outside counsel should be a "non-partisan Republican" and a former attorney general or U.S. attorney.
That description would fit former Sen. John Danforth, R-Mo., a friend of Hatch, who was also a former state attorney general. Danforth is said to be the leading candidate for the job.