Dole Open To Delay, But Reluctant

Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole said Thursday he’s “willing to talk” about delaying hearings into the deadly standoff with white separatist Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.

At the same time, Dole said he is impatient with the sluggish pace of the Justice Department’s review of the case and what he said “has probably been a massive cover-up” of the incident.

“We may be able to coordinate something, but they’ve had all this time to investigate and nothing’s happened,” Dole said at a news conference. “They wouldn’t be investigating now if the Senate hearing were not imminent.”

The 1992 siege ended with Weaver’s wife and son and a deputy U.S. marshal killed. Weaver has since moved to Grand Junction, Iowa.

A panel headed by Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., is set to begin hearings Sept. 6, but earlier Thursday, Justice Department officials asked that the hearing be delayed while its probe is conducted. Specter rejected the plea.

“I’d be willing to talk to the attorney general and to Sen. Specter,” said Dole. “Obviously, we’re not trying to discredit anybody’s investigation. We’re not trying to, in effect, interfere with some judicial process that might impact on some individual.”

Dole and Specter are rivals for the GOP presidential nomination.