 It's with great pleasure that I announce my intention to nominate former Governor Richard Althornburg to serve as Attorney General. Governor Thornburg's extensive law enforcement experience and proven integrity, along with his familiarity with the Department of Justice, clearly meet my criteria for filling this important post. Dick Thornburg was a prosecutor's prosecutor for six years as a United States Attorney for Western Pennsylvania. A tough-minded crime buster, winning an unprecedented number of convictions for corruption and against members of organized crime. While at the Department of Justice, he founded the Public Integrity Section, which investigates and prosecutes corrupt federal, state, and local officials. He served two years as the head of the criminal division, and briefly as Acting Deputy Attorney General. Dick proved himself an able manager while serving as Governor of Pennsylvania, one our fourth largest state. And there he reinstituted the death penalty, and won tough, mandatory jail terms for violent and repeat criminals. He was in the forefront of the war against drugs, cracking down on drug traffickers, and creating preventive education programs for Pennsylvania's school children. At the end of his term, the state's serious crime rate had dropped 17 percent. I could always count on Governor Thornburg's help, whether in the fight against big spending and high taxes, or for balancing the budget and the line item veto. I could count on him then, and I'm turning to him now, an intelligent, knowledgeable man, an experienced prosecutor, alumnus of the Justice Department, and former governor. He said once that the first civil right of all Americans is the right to be free from fear in our homes, on our streets, and in our communities. Nothing could be more true, and that cause could have no greater champion than Dick Thornburg. He's the ideal choice for Attorney General, and I urge the Senate to move quickly to confirm him, as well as our other Justice Department nominees, so that they can roll up their sleeves and get back to work, or get to work enforcing the laws of the land. Why is the Attorney General stepping down when no criminality was proved against him and no charges placed? I think that's a question he'd better answer for you, and I think he would. Why do you think he did? Well, I think it was personal reasons, after all that he'd been through, and with his family in mind. Mr. President, there are some conservatives who are going to say you're bringing the Harvard Yard Boutique into your own administration. What are you going to say to conservatives? I think I would just answer that to more governors, I can get into the federal government the better off the nation would be. Mr. President, what are you going to do about Nick O'Rogh when kicking out on our diplomats, sir? I can't. Look, Richard Thornburg is here, and he has a statement to make. Mr. President, I want to extend my appreciation to you for extending to me the great honor and privilege of your appointment as Attorney General of the United States. It's a challenge that I accept. I look forward to returning to the Department of Justice, where I serve very fulfilling and fruitful eight years of my career as a United States Attorney and as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the criminal division. I look forward as well to helping to implement the priorities of the Reagan Bush administration, especially in the field of law enforcement and administration of criminal justice. I'm confident that the experience I had as governor for eight years of one of our major states will serve me and you and the people of this country well in accepting this challenge, and I appreciate it very much. Mr. President, could you just tell us what you're planning to do about Nick O'Rogh when they kicked out our diplomats, accused of state terrorism? What can the United States do? That is under discussion right now. I have to move on here to another engagement, but Governor Thornburg has kindly agreed that if you have some questions for her, you take your questions. Aren't you going to send some response to Nick O'Rogh? Are we going to do something about their diplomats? I think the major challenge of the Attorney General at any period of time is to provide the leadership to the law enforcement community nationwide that is necessary to keep up a relentless war on problems such as organized crime, drug trafficking, official corruption, the major priorities that the federal law enforcement establishment is involved in terms of the cloud investigation over the past month. Attorney General Meese.