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President Clinton calls Lee case 'troubling'

Clinton says he "always had reservations" about the claims made by federal prosecutors to deny Lee bail

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Clinton said Thursday he was troubled by the government's turnaround in the case of fired nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee, who was kept in a county jail with no bail for nine months because federal prosecutors said he was a threat to national security.

"The whole thing was quite troubling to me, and I think it's very difficult to reconcile the two positions that one day he's a terrible risk to the national security and the next day they're making a plea agreement for an offense far more modest than what had been alleged," Clinton told reporters in front of the White House after an event promoting his Patients' Bill of Rights proposal.

VIDEO Wen Ho Lee's son and lawyer discuss plea agreement and pending civil lawsuit Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Read the transcript CNN's Pierre Thomas says Wen Ho Lee faces a year of further interrogation over still-missing files Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   AUDIO Listen to Wen Ho Lee's comments after his release 213K/30 sec. AIFF or WAV   ALSO TIME analysis: Wen Ho Lee case: More like Dreyfus than Rosenbergs   MESSAGE BOARD National security

RESOURCE Key dates in the case of computer scientist Wen Ho Lee

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Lee, 60, was released from custody Wednesday in New Mexico after agreeing to plead guilty to one count of mishandling classified information. He originally faced 59 counts of the same charge, after he was accused of downloading what prosecutors called the "crown jewels" of U.S. nuclear defense secrets onto 10 tapes he took from the Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory.

As part of his plea agreement, Lee promised to tell the government what he did with seven missing tapes.

President Clinton said he "always had reservations" about the claims mounted by federal prosecutors to deny Lee bail.

"We ought not to keep people in jail without bail unless there's some real profound reason," he said.

The president said there's no justification for keeping someone in custody without bail if the case moves so easily to a plea agreement.

When asked about offering Lee clemency, Clinton said the former scientist is still pleading guilty to a substantial charge, but that he would look into the matter.

"It means he spent a lot of time in prison that any ordinary American wouldn't have, and that bothers me," the president said.

Reno not embarrassed

Earlier, Attorney General Janet Reno said she felt the government "made the best decision" it could "based on the evidence and the law" in the Lee case and that she felt "very comfortable about that."

When asked Thursday if the former Los Alamos scientist deserved an apology, she said that Lee was given an opportunity from the onset to resolve the problem and "he chose not to."

U.S. District Judge James Parker accepted a plea bargain that called for Lee to be sentenced to the nine months he has already served while awaiting trial. The judge told Lee that he "deserved to be punished" but that he had been "punished harshly." Parker went on to criticize federal prosecutors and investigators for holding Lee in solitary confinement, saying their actions had "caused embarrassment."

Reno said in her daily briefing that she was "not embarrassed."

"I regret deeply that Judge Parker feels that way but I know what I've had to do based on the evidence and the law. I know what I've had to do to address the national security issues," Reno said.

Reno said Lee had downloaded "very sensitive" information concerning nuclear secrets. "He had not done that just accidentally or in a flash of a three minute period. He had done it over time, taking some 40 hours to do it. He had made it available on an unsecured computer subject to hackers and the like. He had, based on the information we had, done this carefully, deliberately, willfully. He had no need for it in his work."

She said Lee had been asked a series of questions and offered an opportunity to explain his actions. "Did you do anything with the information that you downloaded? Did you give it to anybody? What has been done with it? If you destroyed the tapes, how did you destroy the tapes?"

She said he failed to respond to those questions.

Reno offers no apology for Wen Ho Lee case
September 14, 2000
Nuclear scientist Lee goes home after plea bargain
September 13, 2000
Plea agreement reached in Wen Ho Lee case; hearing resumes
September 13, 2000
Attorneys work on terms of plea bargain for jailed scientist
September 12, 2000
TIME.com: Wen Ho Lee case: More like Dreyfus than Rosenbergs
September 11, 2000
Wen Ho Lee hearing postponed until Wednesday
September 11, 2000
Emergency hearing called in Wen Ho Lee case
September 1, 2000
FBI begins search of Wen Ho Lee's home
August 31, 2000
Judge orders bail for Wen Ho Lee, but U.S prosecutors likely to appeal
August 29, 2000
Hearing underway on details of Wen Ho Lee's release
August 25, 2000
Judge urges mediation in Los Alamos scientist case, sources say
August 25, 2000
Terms of Wen Ho Lee's release to be discussed Tuesday
August 24, 2000
Judge needs more time to decide on release of Los Alamos scientist
August 18, 2000
Scientist charged in nuclear secrets case may have been job-hunting instead
July 7, 2000
Wen Ho Lee sues FBI, other agencies
December 20, 1999
Wen Ho Lee indicted, arrested in Los Alamos case
December 10, 1999

The Trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
WenHoLee.org
U.S. Department of Justice
Los Alamos National Laboratory

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