Washington - The US Attorney General, Ms Janet Reno, expressed anger yesterday over the White House's belated turning over to the Justice Department of videotapes of coffee meetings involving President Clinton.
"All I can say is that we sought the production of these tapes in an appropriate manner and are as disturbed as anyone about their delayed production," she said.
"When you have a situation where the White House has recognised the responsibility to produce the (tapes), it is very, very frustrating to have them produced in such a delayed fashion. And I also thought that we should have been told immediately, as soon as they were found," Ms Reno said.
At issue were controversial videotapes depicting 44 coffee meetings involving campaign contributors at the White House, evidence long sought by the Justice Department and a Senate panel investigating campaign fund-raising abuses. The White House said it learned of the tapes' existence on October 1st, but did not notify the Justice Department until October 4th.