Nra Paid For Consultants Hired By Gop To Examine Raid Weapons Association Has Criticized Federal Involvement At Waco

House Republicans organizing hearings on the 1993 government raid on the Branch Davidians near Waco, Texas, found themselves answering questions Thursday over the gun lobby’s role in the probe.

A few days before the hearings were to begin, the focus turned to the revelation that the National Rifle Association paid for consultants hired by the Republicans to examine weapons seized from the religious sect’s compound after it burned to the ground April 19, 1993.

“It’s now very clear that the National Rifle Association is paying for and writing the script of these hearings,” said White House spokesman Mike McCurry.

“It’s about time that the Congress started asking itself some very serious questions about who is … paying for these hearings on Waco,” McCurry said. “It is absolutely outrageous that the Republican majority in the House of Representatives is subcontracting legitimate congressional investigative work to the National Rifle Association.”

Four agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and six Branch Davidians were killed in an ATF-initiated raid against the Waco compound on Feb. 28, 1993.

An additional 81 Davidians, including leader David Koresh, died seven weeks later as fire consumed the compound after the FBI tried to force out the occupants with tear gas. The government maintains the fire was set by those inside.

The Clinton administration, which has expressed concern about the conduct of the hearings scheduled to start next Wednesday, faced a Friday morning deadline from the Republicans to turn over additional documents related to the Waco episode or be served with a subpoena.

“We have reached an agreement with them on the documents that they have sought from us, and we are almost finished complying with that document request,” Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick told reporters. She said the Justice Department “surely will meet the deadline imposed by the committee for the production of those documents.”

On Capitol Hill, Rep. Bill Zeliff, R-N.H., was pounded by reporters’ questions on the NRA’s role.

Zeliff, one of the two subcommittee chairmen heading the House investigation, insisted he did not know the NRA was involved when his staff hired the consultants this spring. The Justice Department has said it denied permission for the consulting company, Failure Analysis Associates, to X-ray the weapons after the GOP staff and the firm’s employees refused to say who was paying for the work.

The NRA has had “nothing to do with this investigation,” Zeliff said. Regarding the consulting work, he said, “I didn’t know the NRA was involved … I can assure you they won’t be involved in the future.”

The NRA has harshly criticized federal law enforcement’s conduct at Waco.

Zeliff’s appearance came on the heels of a news conference by subcommittee member Rep. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who said, “The scent of the NRA has lingered around these hearings for a while, and now we’ve found a skunk.”