Buchanan Brother To Surrender

The brother of presidential candidate Pat Buchanan plans to surrender to police on charges he used a gun to threaten people at the home of a top State Department official's relatives.

Hank Buchanan, 61, has a history of mental illness and checked into a hospital earlier this week for treatment, his family said. "I love my brother very much," Pat Buchanan said today in a telephone interview from Monroe, La. "He has had long years of mental difficulties. It is a sad and tragic matter and all I can say is that I will stand by my brother and I love him. It is a sad tragedy for his lovely wife and five children."

"This is a terrible setback for Hank and his family," said Bay Buchanan, his sister and a former U.S. treasurer.

The charges stem from an episode last weekend at the home of Cody Shearer, brother-in-law of Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott.

Shearer told police an intruder broke into his garage Sunday, slashed the tires of his cars and then brandished a handgun at two house guests who confronted him.

One of the guests obtained the license plate of the car the intruder fled in, Shearer's lawyers said in a statement.

Shearer said he had received death threats from anonymous callers after a television show aired unsubstantiated allegations last week that he may have been involved in threatening presidential accuser Kathleen Willey in January 1998. Shearer denies the allegations.

"Mr. Shearer is concerned about the breakdown in journalistic standards that has led to his personal safety being jeopardized," his lawyers said in a statement.

Police traced the car and on Wednesday contacted Hank Buchanan's lawyer to arrange for a surrender. "Hank, through me, is fully cooperating with the authorities and hopes to resolve this to everyone's satisfaction," said Tom Buchanan, a lawyer who is representing his brother.

Pat Buchanan, a former Nixon White House aide and television commentator who is making his third bid for the GOP presidential nomination, has visited his brother since he checked into the hospital, the family said.

Hank Buchanan ran his own accounting firm but has had a history of manic depression, family members said. "It has been years. He has had lots of problems. It is a tragic situation," Bay Buchanan said in an interview from her brother's campaign headquarters. "He had been doing very well and this is a terrible setback."