Reno Faints at Talks in Mexico, Feels ‘Fine’ Later

WASHINGTON — Atty. Gen. Janet Reno spent Tuesday night in a Mexico City hospital after feeling nauseated and fainting during an international law enforcement conference there, Justice Department officials said Wednesday.

A pale but smiling Reno, whose problem was diagnosed as gallstones combined with fatigue, recovered sufficiently to attend the opening conference session Wednesday and then to meet on law enforcement issues for 45 minutes with Mexico’s President Ernesto Zedillo and Foreign Minister Angel Gurria, spokesman Bert Brandenburg said.

The 59-year-old attorney general cut short her stay at the Inter-American Assn. of Public Prosecutors Conference and flew to Miami for Thanksgiving with her family.

After speaking with Reno on Wednesday, Brandenburg described her as “feeling fine,” saying doctors in Mexico advised her to avoid fatty foods until seeing a doctor in the United States. He could not say whether she would return to Washington on Saturday as had been scheduled.

President Clinton tried unsuccessfully to reach her Tuesday night but then spoke with her Wednesday morning. “She’s fine. I talked to her this morning. She said she’s feeling great,” Clinton told reporters.

Reno is facing a Tuesday deadline for deciding whether to seek appointment of an independent counsel to investigate the legality of telephone fund-raising calls made by Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.

Lawyers in the department’s Public Integrity section have been recommending against that course, but their final recommendation--answering Reno’s questions--has not been submitted, a Justice Department official said.

Reno faces the same deadline for seeking an outside prosecutor to probe the allegation that former Energy Secretary Hazel O’Leary sought a charitable contribution in return for meeting with Chinese businessmen.

The attorney general had taken materials related to the cases with her, Brandenburg said.

Reno took ill at a reception at the El Camino Real Hotel opening the 28-nation conference. A member of her staff and an agent from her FBI security detail first eased her to the floor and then to a chair after she fainted. She then went to her car, but the security team took her to the Estado Mayor President Hospital after she continued to feel ill, according to a Justice Department account.

Two years ago, Reno disclosed that she has a mild case of Parkinson’s disease, a degenerative condition that can cause tremors and loss of muscular control. Mexican doctors said Reno’s health problems at the conference had nothing to do with Parkinson’s, which in her case is noticeable only by a tremor in her left hand.

Dr. William Weiner, director of the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorder Clinic at the University of Miami, who has been treating Reno for the last 18 months, said fainting and nausea are “not usually associated” with Parkinson’s. He also discounted any link with the gallstone problem.

Reno has been under significant political pressure surrounding her independent-counsel decisions. But she customarily works long hours, from shortly after 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., and can be found at the office on weekends. She has served longer than any attorney general since the Eisenhower administration.

Times staff writer Jim Smith in Mexico City contributed to this story.