Meese Lawyers Told to Provide Basis for Fees

Lawyers for White House counselor Edwin Meese III were ordered today to furnish more details to support Meese’s plea for reimbursement of more than $700,000 in legal fees resulting from his investigation by an independent counsel.

A special three-judge federal panel, established under provisions of the Ethics in Government Act, directed that Meese’s lawyers submit the documents “on or before” Feb. 7--a development that could complicate Meese’s scheduled Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings opening next Tuesday.

The order came as the court at midday unsealed a host of documents in the case, in which Meese’s lawyers filed over 800 pages of documents aimed at persuading the court to authorize the reimbursement.

Under a 1983 amendment to the Ethics in Government Act, a post-Watergate-era piece of legislation, government figures subjected to investigations by an independent counsel can, under certain circumstances, petition the court for reimbursement if no indictment resulted from the probe.

The documents released by the court today confirmed that Meese is seeking to be reimbursed for more than $700,000 in fees incurred, his lawyers argue, because of the investigation by independent counsel Jacob Stein, who last September found no basis to prosecute Meese after investigating 11 allegations of loans made to Meese or his wife and the appointment to federal jobs of individuals involved in the loans.

The court order states that Meese and his lawyers must show the amount of time and money incurred before Stein’s appointment last April 2, and the time and money spent between that time and Sept. 20.

The order came on a day in which Meese agreed to sell some stocks and take any other action necessary to “avoid an appearance of impropriety,” according to documents filed with the Senate Judiciary Committee.