Senators Object to FBI Ploy in Deaver Inquiry

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) has protested to FBI Director William H. Webster requests by bureau agents to interrogate several senators who asked for a Justice Department review of Michael K. Deaver’s lobbying activities, an aide said today.

In a letter and telephone call to Webster on Wednesday, Biden said it was inappropriate for FBI agents to approach him and other Democratic senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee before the bureau conducts its own inquiry, Peter Smith, a Biden aide, said.

In recent days, FBI agents have approached all the Democratic members of the committee, of which Biden is the ranking minority member, Smith said.

“We really don’t have anything to provide in terms of independent information,” Smith said. “Our request to the Justice Department was based on published reports.”

The FBI had no immediate comment, but Smith said Webster told Biden during the telephone call that he was sorry if the senators had been offended.

Request Inquiry

Biden and four other Democratic members of the judiciary panel asked the Justice Department in a letter last month to open an inquiry to determine if a special counsel should be appointed to investigate conflict-of-interest allegations concerning Deaver’s lobbying since leaving the White House.

The other Democratic judiciary members who signed the letter--Sens. Paul Simon of Illinois, Howard M. Metzenbaum of Ohio, Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia and Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont--had no immediate comment.

Deaver, President Reagan’s former White House deputy chief of staff, is the target of allegations that he may have improperly tried to influence policy decisions by Administration officials to benefit his firm’s clients.

Smith said Biden considered “the (FBI) matter over with, and the senator told Webster that he would be willing to talk to the agents after they complete their own independent investigation.”