THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
______________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release January 18, 2001
PRESS BRIEFING BY
JAKE SIEWERT
The James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
12:47 P.M. EST
MR. SIEWERT: I actually don't have any announcements, as far as
I know, so I will take your questions.
Q On Jesse Jackson, any comment?
Q Anything new on pardons?
MR. SIEWERT: No, I wouldn't expect anything today. If we have
anything, it will be tomorrow.
Q Jake, do you think the situation with Reverend Jesse Jackson
is a way for the Bush administration to feel easy because Jesse Jackson
would have been a thorn in his side and now this might tarnish him a bit?
MR. SIEWERT: Oh, I don't want to speculate on that. This is a
family matter that Reverend Jackson has vowed to deal with on his own. And
our thoughts and prayers are with him. It's obviously a very difficult
situation. But I'm not here as a spokesman on how this might play out
politically.
Q Since Jesse Jackson and President Clinton are very close and
the President used him as a sounding board during the Monica Lewinsky
scandal, has he called Jesse and talked to him about it?
MR. SIEWERT: I don't think he's spoken to him. I'll
double-check on that. But I'm sure they'll be in touch over the days and
weeks ahead.
Q And he knows about it, the President is aware?
MR. SIEWERT: Yes, he's heard about it.
Q On pardons, yesterday the President was saying he was still
receiving requests for pardons. Do you have any sense of the volume or the
number that the President received, and how many are seriously under
consideration?
MR. SIEWERT: We're taking a look at as many as we can, given the
time constraints. I'm sure we've received, either here or at the
Department of Justice, literally hundreds of requests. But I don't know
that all of them have come through in the proper way and the proper
channels. So we'll look at as many as we can. We have a pretty small
office here to look at those particular issues, but we'll look at as many
as we can and we'll let you know when we have final decisions.
Q When will we get tonight's speech?
MR. SIEWERT: We'll try to make it available before the actual
address is delivered, and if we can we'll get you excerpts before the
evening news.
Q What's he going to talk about?
MR. SIEWERT: He's still working on the speech, so I don't want
to preview it in any detail since it may change a little bit. The prepared
draft that he had certainly harkened back to the President's arrival here
in Washington, about eight years ago today, where he promised to renew
America and talk -- thank the American people for their support in that
effort and reflect a little bit upon the progress we've made, look forward
a little bit into the future.
Since it's a relatively short address, he probably won't have
time to cover some of what we've accomplished here. So I can summarize
that for you. We have, as you know, the longest economic expansion in
American history, a record 115 months now. And the economy's grown on
average 4 percent over the last eight years. We've created more than 22
million new jobs, which you may have heard, and the highest home ownership
in American history right now. That, again, is something that he probably
won't have time to get into in any great detail. But we do have, as you
also know, the lowest unemployment in 30 years. (Laughter.) We've managed
to raise education standards, increase school choice, double the education
in training investment. Here, again, probably won't have time to get into
that in any great detail. We've had the largest expansion of college
opportunity since the G.I. Bill. (Laughter.)
Q Does he leave any high hopes for his successor?
MR. SIEWERT: Certainly, I expect that he -- as he said in the
past, he wishes his successor well, and he's going to thank the American
people for their support over the years, and say that he looks forward to
becoming a citizen again.
Q I'll bet. (Laughter.)
MR. SIEWERT: He does, indeed. He's certainly looking forward to
getting some rest. Let me just tell you a little bit. The President was
actually -- as you know, those of you who were there, had a great day in
Little Rock yesterday; got back here and spent the evening packing. And he
took some time this morning, although I think he was a bit tired from
packing, came in to wish Don Flynn, who has been the head of his detail,
well at his farewell ceremony over in the Indian Treaty Room, this morning
around 11:00 a.m. He and Mrs. Clinton came over and thanked Don Flynn, and
more particularly, the Secret Service, for the work they've done over the
last eight years, protecting him and his family. And that was a very
heartfelt tribute to the good work that the Secret Service does here.
Q What's he packing?
MR. SIEWERT: Everything. Got to clear everything out. He
talked a little bit about this on the plane yesterday, but he's packing
stuff up, and he obviously has some help, but he needs to make decisions
about what goes to the library or into storage for the library, what goes
to the Archives, what goes to the house in Chappaqua, what would go to the
house in D.C., and those are difficult decisions.
Q When does the moving van actually roll up?
MR. SIEWERT: Well, I think it's been an evolving process. We've
obviously moved many things to Chappaqua already, and the house is pretty
well furnished and stocked up there. But they need to make decisions about
what will go to the house in Washington as well, and what will end up in
Little Rock, at the library. So these things, I think, have been going on.
We've sent a lot of material to Little Rock, already, for storage there,
and I think the President had a chance to look at that storage facility the
last time he was in Little Rock, in November. And I imagine that's filling
up already. We've sent a number of vans down there already. And in terms
of when they're moving into the new house, I believe they're close to
finishing up the process on that, but I don't think it's done yet.
Q Jake, tonight, will he mention the Lewinsky scandal in an
way at all, even obliquely --
MR. SIEWERT: No, I don't think so.
Q -- or impeachment or mistakes made?
MR. SIEWERT: I don't think so. I think he will thank the
American people for standing by him, their support over the last eight
years through thick and thin. But I think this is meant to reflect upon
the good work that's been accomplished here and what the future holds.
Q Is he writing most of this himself?
MR. SIEWERT: He spent some time with the speechwriters and has a
draft, but I imagine that he will put his personal touch on it today.
Q Some Presidents have used their farewell address to say
really things of substance -- Washington's farewell address, no entangling
foreign alliances; Eisenhower warning about the military industrial
complex. Is the President going to do anything like that tonight?
MR. SIEWERT: He may. But I think it will be on the order
stressing the importance of remaining engaged in the world and continuing
to confront the challenges that America faces as the preeminent superpower
in the world. That may be relatively oblique, and as I said he's still
working on it, there may be some changes. He is going to put his own
imprint on it today. He's got a lot of time today to work on it, and we'll
let you know as we get a little bit closer.
Q Does he have a job?
MR. SIEWERT: Well, he has a lot of plans, but --
Q Has he accepted anything --
MR. SIEWERT: I actually don't know if he's accepted anything in
particular. I know he's obviously planning on working on the library. He
will have an office in New York, and I think he wants to spend some time
thinking through some of his options. He has a lot of options and he wants
to spend a couple weeks, a month or two resting and thinking about how he
wants to tackle the challenges of the ex-presidency, and I don't think he's
made any big, final decisions.
Q Has he made any commitments for public speaking?
MR. SIEWERT: Not that I'm aware of. You should check with -- I
know they're obviously planning on those. I don't know if he's made any
specific commitments myself, but you can check with Bob Barnett, his
personal attorney who is handling those matters for him in the
post-presidency. I don't think we can here, legally.
Q Has he talked to General Powell about what to charge?
Q Jake, does the President find this packing up process a
difficult process for him on a personal level?
MR. SIEWERT: Well, it obviously brings out a lot of memories,
and he's said it's often difficult -- he told us last night it's often
difficult to decide what to keep in a house that he can see regularly and
access, and what to put into storage. But it's -- I think he's actually
enjoyed the last few weeks, and he told us actually this morning at the
event he did with Don Flynn that he's enjoyed going out in a whirlwind of
activity. And he said, he did not want this to -- he never wanted his
presidency to wind down, he just wanted it to close out. And I think we're
not exactly winding down here, we're staying active and engaged.
Q Is there any chance the President will come and talk with us
after the speech tonight, mingle --
MR. SIEWERT: I wouldn't expect that, no. I haven't talked to
him about that.
Q Could we ask?
MR. SIEWERT: I'll let him know, but I don't know -- (laughter)
-- I know that he'll probably have a chance -- John Podesta has invited
some of us to celebrate afterwards, so maybe he'll drop by that.
Q Bring us all in.
MR. SIEWERT: Yes, come on up.
Q At the 9:30 Club?
MR. SIEWERT: No, I don't think we're going back there.
Q Today you mean?
MR. SIEWERT: Tonight after the speech.
Q Jake, this week and again in Little Rock yesterday, the
President made note that he's read many of these retrospectives about his
presidency and found several of them lacking in particular ways. Is the
farewell address his last opportunity to sort of set for the country what
he thinks he's done and put all these other --
MR. SIEWERT: As I said, I don't actually think, though the
record is considerable and we believe that most of what happened here in
Washington didn't happen by accident, but by design and through smart
economic strategies, smart domestic policies and smart foreign policy
management, we won't have the time to literally run through the
accomplishments as I did a minute ago -- whether it's the 22 million new
jobs, or the efforts to bring peace to trouble spots around the world.
That's just not really what this farewell address is meant to do.
I think it will, in a short fashion, thank the American people
for their support and talk a little bit about the progress we've made in
restoring people's faith in government, restoring people's faith in
Washington, working for them in many ways. But I think that he wants to
use this mostly to thank people and talk a little bit about the future.
Q With you saying all these accomplishments, do you think in
time, down the road, like 10, 20 years, maybe Clinton will be looked at
then as a great President, although he has been tarnished with some of the
things right now?
MR. SIEWERT: Look, this is for others to judge and others to --
historians to weigh. The President's worked extraordinarily hard over the
last eight years for the American people through some very difficult
decisions. We confronted an economy that was, frankly, a mess, and the
President helped put it back together and clean it up and put America on a
solid footing.
I mean, today America is unquestionably the world's preeminent
economic power, and also, unquestionably, the world's preeminent
superpower. That was not obvious eight years ago. America, by many
analysts, was thought to be in decline and was headed for a period of
lessened influence around the world. No one thinks that today, and that's
in large part due to the hard work of the American people, but it is partly
due to the President's strategic vision about how to restore the American
economy and how to renew America's influence around the world.
Q With all those accomplishments, do you think he should be
garnered with "great" --
MR. SIEWERT: Look, I'll let historians make those judgments.
I'm just a humble spokesman.
Q Who do we call after --
Q It's tradition for the President to leave a message to the
successor in the Oval Office. Would you expect President Clinton to do
that?
MR. SIEWERT: Yes, I expect he would, but I expect that would be
private, as it has been in the past.
Q He is the most well-known or famous President at home and
around the globe. Now, it must be very difficult for him, after eight
years, now these last days. Now, what is he taking from the White House
and what is he leaving behind?
MR. SIEWERT: What is he taking from the White House? Only his
possessions, hopefully. (Laughter.) I'll check on that.
Q Count the spoons. (Laughter.)
MR. SIEWERT: Yes, Mark, we can do an inventory if you would
like. But, look, he's taking with him an enormous sense of gratitude to
the American people for having supported his efforts to do their work over
the last eight years.
Q Who do we call when he leaves, and where?
MR. SIEWERT: That's a good question. I know Karen Tramontano is
going to serve as the President's Chief of Staff for the Office of the
Former President. And she will be running that office and she will be
working with him to select someone to serve as his spokesperson. But I
don't know who that person is yet. I know it will not be me.
Q So we call the White House?
MR. SIEWERT: No, I don't think she will be at the White House,
but we'll find a number for her and make that available. They will have an
office over at Jackson Place, which initially, for at least Karen and the
staff, will be their base of operations as they transition up to New York
over the next four or five months.
Q Jake, what do you say to people who look at the timing of
his farewell address and say that a part of it may be designed to distract
attention from the inauguration celebration. President Reagan gave a
farewell address, but he did it nine days before the inauguration.
MR. SIEWERT: I hadn't actually looked at the timing of these,
but that's not -- it's designed to be a farewell. That's it pure and
simple. It will actually be relatively short compared to a lot of the
other farewell addresses; not as short as Truman's which I'm told was two
minutes, but Reagan and Eisenhower and others spoke for about 20 minutes.
We're going to try to keep it somewhere around six or seven minutes.
Q I'm not sure how to put this except, does he plan to keep
his hands dirty or whatever in terms of -- like the Middle East peace
process? (Laughter.)
MR. SIEWERT: No -- oh.
Q Does he plan to have regular contacts with the parties?
MR. SIEWERT: I think he wants to find a way to remain engaged in
some of the work that's been very important to him over the last eight
years' work. And that includes work on restoring opportunity to those who
haven't shared in the economic recovery over the last eight years. That
includes work that he's done around the world, particularly in the poorest
parts of the world. And it may include some work in some of the trouble
spots that he's spent a lot of time on -- the Mideast and Northern Ireland.
But he wants to take time and figure out how to do that right,
and to it in a way that doesn't interfere with the new President's work on
those important issues. He wants to give the new President a wide amount
of latitude in setting a new foreign policy agenda, their own foreign
policy agenda. We obviously think there are some valuable lessons to be
learned in how we conducted foreign policy, but obviously the new President
will come in and have some new ideas, and we want to give him and his team
a chance to succeed.
So I think he'll step back a little bit and give the new
President a chance to work through some of these tricky issues. But he
certainly has indicated that if, at some point, someone thinks he can be
useful, he'll do that, but in a way that recognizes that the President of
the United States is the voice for the United States on foreign policy and
national security.
Q Is he going to have a rally in New York upon his arrival?
MR. SIEWERT: That's fairly traditional, I think, that they be
welcomed home by the people who want to see him there. I think President
Bush was greeted in Houston by some well-wishers and we will do the same.
A brief rundown on Saturday, just for those -- this is all
somewhat tentative, but I expect that around 10:30 a.m. or so, they will
greet the President-elect -- Mr. and Mrs. Clinton will greet the
President-elect and Mrs. Bush at the White House here. They traditionally
have a short, informal --
Q North Portico?
MR. SIEWERT: We're working through a lot of these logistical
issues with the Bush transition team. They then leave for the Capitol,
where they go inside, off the --
Q About 11:00 a.m. they leave?
MR. SIEWERT: Yes, roughly. Maybe a tiny bit earlier. Again,
all the press coverage is still TBD. They have some time inside the
Capitol, and then around 11:30 a.m. or so, they'll go over the West Front,
for the inaugural ceremonies. The ceremonies obviously proceed. You
should check with the President-elect's team on how exactly they expect
those to proceed. We expect we'll be leaving roughly 12:45 p.m. or so. He
is bid farewell by the President, by President Bush, and at that point he
will get on Nighthawk One and leave for Andrews. At Andrews, there will be
a departure ceremony.
Q Where does he leave on Nighthawk, at the Ellipse?
MR. SIEWERT: No, I believe at the East Front of the Capitol. I
can double-check that.
Q What is Nighthawk One?
MR. SIEWERT: Well, it's essentially a helicopter that transports
him, no longer known as Marine One, since he's the former President.
Q And he'll take a tour of Washington in the helicopter, like
Reagan did?
MR. SIEWERT: I don't know, we'll see. He may well -- I know he
enjoyed last night's ride in the night; it was the last chance he's got to
see the monuments at night.
There will be a departure ceremony in his honor, and all the
White House staff have been invited -- you're certainly invited, as well --
at Andrews. And at that point, he boards --
Q Does he have any remarks there?
MR. SIEWERT: Yes, I expect he'll say something. Yes, he will,
absolutely.
Q What time will that be at Andrews?
MR. SIEWERT: Approximately, and this is very approximate,
roughly 1:05 p.m. is the beginning of that ceremony. He will then board
U.S. Air Force Special Air Mission, and fly to JFK.
Q Which one?
MR. SIEWERT: SAM One. They keep calling it SAM One, although
some people tell me it's named after the flight number. I don't know.
We'll get to the bottom of that. I'll rely on our Air Force veteran to let
you know. Arriving at JFK approximately 3:05 p.m. And at TWA hanger 12 --
and that's not a commercial endorsement -- the President will greet
supporters at a welcoming ceremony there. That will last approximately an
hour. And then he will take a helicopter up to Westchester, and he and
Mrs. Clinton and family will retire to the home for the evening.
Q His daughter will be with him?
MR. SIEWERT: Yes, absolutely.
Q Radio address taped here Saturday morning?
MR. SIEWERT: We will tape it on Friday, I believe, broadcast at
10:06 a.m., as is traditional.
Q The President said that he's for D.C. statehood. How are
going to work and promote when he said that he will promote?
MR. SIEWERT: Well, again, I think that's an issue that he cares
about, and he will try to do something -- will be a part-time resident,
obviously, of D.C., a permanent resident of New York. But I'll check with
him and see if he has any specific plans on how to do that.
Q Jake, here at the White House on Saturday between 10:30 a.m.
and 11:00 a.m., you said there is something traditional --
MR. SIEWERT: Informal, essentially, tea and coffee with the two
families.
Q Where would that be? Do you know? What room?
MR. SIEWERT: I'll check.
Q Do you expect the radio address on Saturday to also be
something of a really final farewell address?
Q The final final?
MR. SIEWERT: Until the final address at Andrews. (Laughter.)
And the one in New York. No, we'll do something that's celebrates the
tradition of the radio address and thanks again the American people for
their support and for listening over the years.
Q But it will be along those lines, it won't be patients' bill
of rights or something? (Laughter.)
MR. SIEWERT: You never know. He did promise to work until the
last hour of the last day, so you can't rule it out entirely.
Q He could announce the pardons --
MR. SIEWERT: I understand there's a Mark Knoller monument being
considered. Mark has requested, for those of you who don't know, that his
condo be designated as a national monument, and that's under serious
consideration now, given -- (laughter) -- we've got a draft release we've
prepared on the national monument at the Mark Knoller condo in Chevy Chase.
(Laughter.) So those of you who want to weigh in with CEQ, do so today.
(Laughter.) Time's a-wasting.
Q When you do the pardons tomorrow, will they be at a
manageable hour, or will it be under the cover of darkness? (Laughter.)
MR. SIEWERT: We'll try to do them in the full light of day.
Q Anybody we know?
MR. SIEWERT: I don't know. It depends on what company you keep,
Helen. I don't know. (Laughter.)
Q You can't really disguise it at 6:30 p.m. on a Friday night,
because Saturday is going to be a busy news day.
MR. SIEWERT: No, I understand. I've been assured by the Chief
of Staff and the team that they will do everything within their power to do
these at a relatively reasonable hour.
Q How many?
Q Tomorrow?
MR. SIEWERT: Tomorrow -- he actually has the day off to finish
up packing, saying good-bye. I wouldn't expect any public pronouncements
from him tomorrow.
Q Is it true that you're going to have all White House staff
computers taken down tonight?
MR. SIEWERT: I think it's a rolling process. We are losing, I
think, e-mail capability this evening, so we'll probably have to go back to
the pre-Clinton stone ages when technology wasn't as far-ranging and
important as it is today. But we'll find a way to get by with the old fax
and paper.
Q How about hard disks. Will they go also tonight?
MR. SIEWERT: No, I don't think so. I think they now have -- I
know when we came in there were no hard drives here, but I think now
they've developed a way to sweep the computers and store the material at
Archives and actually leave the existing structure in place so that the
Bush team has something to work with.
Q Jake, now China and Russia are getting together and about to
sign a treaty later this year, and they are making deals. Do you think
President-elect know about it or how he feels or any --
MR. SIEWERT: I believe this is meant to foster more stability in
the region and foster more cooperation between the two countries, and we
believe that's important. It's not, as I understand it, not any pact
that's designed to deal with aggression or military issues, it's basically
fostering economic and scientific cooperation.
Q On the hard drives, do you leave any sort of institutional
memory for the Bush people --
MR. SIEWERT: I'll take a second on that, because we've been in
regular contact with the Bush team, everyone from Ms. Jenny, "Tiger"
Engebretsen has been consulting with them on how to do the clips, and
Christine has been explaining to them how the pool works. And that's a
level of cooperation that I think is really unprecedented at this level.
We've been working with them across a broad array of issues. John has been
in touch with his counterpart, Mr. Card, on a regular basis, and we've been
doing everything we can to explain where things are, how they work, and
we'll continue to do that. The Bush team's been in here virtually every
night, at some level or another, to walk around, take a look at the place,
see how it works.
I know -- I did this job myself, for the Clinton transition in
'92. We did not have that opportunity. So we've been doing everything we
can to make it easier for them to get settled in, and get to work right
away.
Q Why did you not have an opportunity? Were you refused?
MR. SIEWERT: I don't know. Some people were very helpful, but
generally it was a little bit tougher to get information and figure out
where things were in '92 then it is today. And the President asked John
Podesta to make the arrangement as cooperative as possible, particularly
because we had had some trouble in '92, and he didn't want to replicate
that.
Q Did the Bush team ask for any particular guidance on how to
overturn a previous administration's executive order?
MR. SIEWERT: No. I mean, that is something that we very
jealously guarded in our discussions with them. There were conversations
where we told them what we were doing. John, I know, has kept them
informed about what we had planned, in terms of worker safety rules,
environment rules. They said they would like to take a chance to review
those, and we said you can certainly do so, but there is -- under no
circumstances are we going to change our minds about what we think is
important and what is right.
Based on their own ideas, they will have a full chance to review
them when they're in the White House and in power. But we will reserve the
right at the time in discussions with them to exercise presidential
authority up until the last days.
Q Jake, there are some legal problems with leaving hard drives
behind, right?
MR. SIEWERT: I have no idea. I know that Archives have to move
on to the -- our electronic records have to move on to them.
Q Didn't the Bush people tell you in '92 that there were some
national security consideration or some kind of legal considerations?
MR. SIEWERT: Look, there are ways of working through those, and
we've tried to do that in a pretty cooperative way here. But the computers
will be in place, and they'll be ready and able to work them.
Q Is there an agreement between the two administrations on
what jobs -- what people in what positions over in the OEOB must be gone by
what time? Do you envision some situation where, as the inauguration takes
place, the Bush team goes and basically clears out the OEOB, or clears out
--
MR. SIEWERT: We'll leave. They don't need to clear us out.
We're happy to go. (Laughter.) Look, people have submitted their
resignations, they've been accepted. They're expected to leave 11:59 a.m.
Saturday. Most people are actually leaving much sooner then that because,
just out of convenience sake, it's a lot easier to get that process going
early and get it done with.
But I don't think that -- I don't know exactly what you're
referring to, but there are some people that they've asked to stay on. In
each agency there's usually a person who's designated to stay on and ensure
that the transition runs smoothly. But that's for a limited period of
time, generally. And then, of course, they've asked -- they certainly have
the right to retain any person that they'd like, and I understand they've
done that in a number of cases.
Q But these provisions are agreed on. There's not going to be
a situation where they have to go tell someone, you should be out of here
now?
MR. SIEWERT: We've asked a set number of people, and we
explained who they are, to resign. We've accepted their resignations, and
they'll be gone. If they come in here and find someone that they don't
particularly want working here -- I don't even know who that would be, but
there are a fair number of career staff here, and they could certainly make
their own decisions about staffing when they get in here. But this place
will be relatively empty.
Q For the last eight years, world leaders have been dealing
with President Clinton. Now do you think it will be difficult for them to
deal with --
MR. SIEWERT: Oh, I don't think so. I mean, the new President
has already established a number of contacts with foreign leaders around
the world and he'll have a chance to do more of that. It's very similar to
what happened when President Clinton took office.
Q Is this the last briefing of the Clinton administration?
MR. SIEWERT: No, we'll have one tomorrow. Although I hope it
won't be this serious.
Q In that case --
MR. SIEWERT: Oh, my god, one announcement before I forget.
It is -- the woman who is trying to slink off right now -- it's her
birthday. So I'm not going to sing because I can't sing, but join us for
cake in the lower press office, courtesy of Fox. (Applause.)
Q Happy birthday, Ellen.
Q Happy 21st, Ellen.
END 1:15 P.M. EST
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