RENO SHOWS MEMOS TO CONGRESS; GOP CRITICS
SOFTEN CONTEMPT THREAT
By William Neikirk, Washington Bureau.
Atty. Gen. Janet Reno's congressional critics began to back away from a threatened contempt of Congress citation Wednesday
but still insisted that she recommend appointing an independent counsel to investigate
fundraising abuses in the 1996 presidential campaign.
Reno came to an extraordinary three-hour meeting with leaders of
investigative committees in the House and Senate, allowed them to read edited internal
memos from Justice Department officials who had urged her to name an independent counsel,
and answered questions on why she didn't.
Reno in early August refused to produce the memos
under a subpoena from the House Government Reform and Oversight
Committee, prompting the panel to recommend to the House that she be held in contempt. The
fact that she brought the documents to Wednesday's session, and allowed invited members to
read them, appeared to give Republicans the chance to pull back from a contempt citation
that might not have passed anyway.
Those who attended said the memos were so heavily edited, in part
because some involved grand jury materials, that they wondered whether
some of the contents had been stricken needlessly.
Even so, one Republican source who read the memos said they were
"devastating" and suggested the attorney general should have
named an independent counsel last year.
Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), chairman of the House Judiciary
Committee, confirmed that the contempt citation was discussed. "We all are making an
effort to reach an accommodation," he said. Asked if a contempt
citation could be avoided, Hyde added, "I think it can be, but we're not there
yet."
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the Senate
Judiciary Committee who summoned Reno to the meeting in his office, said it was a
"solid first step toward resolution of this dispute." But with the extensive editing, he said, Reno was not "completely forthcoming with the
Congress."
Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), chairman of the
government reform panel, said he would talk to his staff and committee about whether the
contempt citation should be dropped in view of Reno's decision to produce the memos.
He, too, made clear that he thought Reno made the
wrong decision in refusing to name an independent counsel, based on his reading of the
memos.
"I think the parts we read were very
interesting and very helpful and reinforced my view that the attorney general was trying
to protect the president and vice president" in refusing to
recommend appointment of an independent counsel last year, Burton said.
After the session, both Burton and Hatch said that Reno should
name an independent counsel to investigate all aspects of the fundraising
scandal, not just elements of it.
On the Senate floor, Hatch said the memos by FBI Director Louis
Freeh and Charles LaBella, who had headed Reno's task force looking into
the fundraising allegations, provided "strong, convincing
arguments" in favor of an independent counsel. LaBella attended the meeting, but not
Freeh.
Hatch said that when he asked Reno why she had rejected
recommendations, "the answers I received were vague, insufficient or
unconvincing."
Reno has triggered two 90-day investigations to determine whether
she should recommend appointment of independent counsels to look into the roles played by
Vice President Al Gore and former Clinton deputy chief of staff Harold Ickes in the 1996
fundraising controversy.
Reno refused to turn over the documents subpoenaed by Burton's
committee on the ground that they would endanger the Justice Department's campaign finance
investigation by revealing prosecutors' strategy. The committee approved the contempt
citation by a party-line vote last month.
Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), ranking Democrat on the Burton
committee, called Wednesday's session a "very constructive meeting" and added,
"I don't think the contempt resolution will pass the House."
There had been some doubt it would pass anyway,
as many Republicans did not want to be put in the position of citing the attorney general.
By appearing at the closed-door meeting, Reno may have enabled some Republicans to get off
the hook.
Also attending the meeting were Justice
Department officials who had made recommendations to Reno on appointing an independent
counsel -- LaBella; Lee Radek, head of the public integrity section; and James DeSarno, an
FBI official who worked on the task force.
Much of the time was taken up with members reading the memos. They
asked LaBella, DeSarno and Radek questions, but Reno interrupted them
several times and said they shouldn't answer, on grounds of confidentiality or the fact it
was her decision, not theirs, according to Burton.
Hyde called it a cordial meeting, and Burton
said it was productive--but not as productive as he would have liked. "I don't
believe everything we wanted was given to us today," Burton said.
Burton, meantime, said a report that Vanity Fair magazine was
about to publish a story on his private life is "another manifestation of trying to
intimidate me or back me off my job as chairman of the committee" by friends of President Clinton.
Vanity Fair officials said no Burton story is
planned for its next issue and said it was "ridiculous" to suggest that it could
be influenced by the White House.
Copyright 1998, The Tribune Company.