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Reno says goodbye and thanks to Justice Department

 Janet Reno
Reno basks in one of many standing ovations during her farewell ceremony. Attendees included Dep. Attorney General Eric Holder, at podium, and FBI Director Louis Freeh  

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno said goodbye to her Justice Department staff in a ceremony at the department Thursday and thanked them for their commitment to civil service.

"I love the law, I love good and caring lawyers, but never have I loved people as much as I do you for what you do for this country," Reno said.

She said serving the government and suffering "the slings and arrows of a free press" and the political process takes courage, but she urged them not to quit.

"Yes, I've been cussed at, fussed at and figuratively beaten around the ears, but after eight years in this job, after seeing America, I know two things... I have never believed so strongly in this nation's future, in the righteousness of its ways as I do and I have never believed so strongly that we must continue to fight so that the law issues from all of the people and not just some," Reno said.

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Reno had special thanks for Ernest Brown, who was her tax law professor at Harvard Law School in 1962 and now serves in the Justice Department's tax division.

She praised FBI Director Louis Freeh as "one of the finest people I have known in law enforcement" and stressed the importance of their well-publicized disagreements.

"Louis Freeh and I have disagreed, and other people have gotten those disagreements, plop, on the front page of any newspaper they could find," she said. "One of the things we have got to realize is that we have to work through issues. And you don't work through issues in a small way, just taking a piece. You disagree, you discuss things, you sometimes disagree very vehemently. But those disagreements pale in comparison with what we are able to work through, and this has just been a model for me."

Reno's staff was equally complimentary. Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder said she was "the best damn attorney general in the history of the United States."

Solicitor General Seth Waxman said Reno was unwilling to allow politics to influence her decisions and described her reaction when a staff member said their could be fallout, depending on how an issue was decided.

Reno and choir
Reno enjoys the performance of Drug Enforcement Agency Choir  

"The hands went onto the arms of the chair, the arms of the chair vibrated up and down and it was clear to me that something volcanic was going to happen," Waxman said. He said that Reno explained that she never wanted anyone to discuss the political implications of a case because that was not their job.

"Not a day goes by when I don't hear Janet Reno's voice in my head saying 'we're going to be criticized anyway so why don't we just do the right thing,'" Waxman said.

A number of people joked about Reno's recent purchase of a red Ford Ranger pickup truck and her plans to drive it around the country.

"We wish you Godspeed. I wish you had not given the make and model and color of your vehicle," Freeh said. He added that if she found the truck had been painted it was for her own protection.

At the end of the ceremony, Reno said it was time for her to "get in that little red truck and go out and enjoy it." The she went into the crowd and hugged dozens of people before leaving the room.



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Despite election uncertainty, Reno confident about future
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RELATED SITES:
U.S. Department of Justice
Federal Bureau of Investigation


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