Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno has died. U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) says Reno was a great role model.
“She was the one who used to say to me over and over again, Claire as a prosecutor, you have unbridled power. Make sure you stay handcuffed to the facts and don’t talk about it until you’re sure what the facts are. That’s how you find justice,” says McCaskill.
Reno, 79, was the first woman to serve as U.S. attorney general. She served under the Bill Clinton administration.
“She was strong. She was smart,” says McCaskill. “She wasn’t afraid of anybody or anything. I think she’ll go down in history as one that all young women should try to emulate.”
Two of the most notable controversies during Reno’s tenure as attorney general included a deadly federal raid in 1993 on the compound of a religious cult in Waco, Texas and the government’s seizing of Elian Gonzalez in 2000. Gonzalez was a young Cuban refugee involved in a political and international custody feud.
Reno died from complications of Parkinson’s disease. She was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1995, while she was still in office.
