BY MADELINE BARO DIAZ
 Online News Reporter

 Attorney General Janet Reno discussed the Elian Gonzalez case on the "Oprah Winfrey Show" today, saying she has no regrets about her actions.

 Six-year-old Elian was reunited with his father last month after Reno sent armed federal agents to the home of his Miami relatives to retrieve the boy. The relatives had cared for Elian since he was found clinging to an inner tube last Thanksgiving and are trying to win an asylum hearing for the boy to remain in the country.

 On the show, taped this morning, Winfrey went over old territory, asking Reno about the breakdown in negotiations with Elian's relatives and the subsequent raid.

 Reno said, once again, she had no regrets about the raid.

 ``I don't know any other way we could have done it,'' she said.

 Winfrey asked Reno about the widely-published Associated Press photo of an armed federal agent confronting Gonzalez family friend Donato Dalrymple who was holding Elian in his arms. Winfrey asked if Reno wished the photo had not been taken.

 ``If the photo had not been taken, people would have accused us of so many things,'' she said.

 Winfrey also asked Reno if the Elian Gonzalez case showed a bias that existed against immigrants from countries other than Cuba.

 Critics have said that if Elian had been an immigrant from Haiti or another country, he would have been sent home sooner.

 ``I think this case presents aspects that I've never seen in any other case,'' she said.

 Meanwhile, Republican leaders expressed new reservations today over whether to hold congressional hearings on the raid.

 ``I don't know the answer to whether or not a hearing will be necessary,'' House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, told reporters.

 Meanwhile, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, whose Senate Judiciary Committee had originally announced hearings this week, indicated he's still awaiting requested documents from the Justice Department.

 In a taunting statement, Hatch suggested the agency may have been too busy preparing Attorney General Janet Reno ``for several appearances on television news and entertainment programs'' to respond to his request for documents.

 ``The attorney general's appearance on Oprah had no bearing on the department's ability to gather the documents for the Judiciary Committee,'' spokeswoman Carole Florman responded.

 Reno seemed relaxed during the television interview, even cracking a joke when Winfrey asked her if the stress she'd been under had aggravated her health. Reno suffers from Parkinson's Disease, a nervous system disorder.

 ``All it does is make me shake,'' Reno said, sparking laughter and applause from Winfrey's audience.

 Reno, who traveled to Miami to talk to the Elian's relatives at one point during the weeks of negotiations, said she did not feel she could influence the situation just because she is from Miami.

 ``I became personally involved because the buck stops with me,'' she said.

 Reno acknowledged that her actions have angered many Cuban-Americans in Miami.

 ``My Cuban friends are furious at me,'' she said. ``They feel betrayed and hurt.''

 Herald wire services contributed to this report.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald