Deaver Pleads Innocent to 5 Counts of Lying

Former White House aide Michael K. Deaver, the first person indicted under the special prosecutor law, pleaded innocent today to five counts of lying to Congress and a federal grand jury about his activities as a private lobbyist.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Jackson granted Deaver’s request for a trial by jury and set a tentative trial date of June 8.

But he also said he “anticipates deciding” beforehand on Deaver’s constitutional challenge to the appointment of a special prosecutor under the 1978 Ethics in Government Act. Jackson, and eventually Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, rebuffed the challenge earlier because Deaver had not yet been charged with wrongdoing.

Deaver was charged in a five-count indictment last week with lying to the investigators about his contacts with top Administration officials on behalf of private clients. He was released on his personal recognizance.

If convicted, the ex-deputy White House chief of staff and longtime personal friend of the President and Nancy Reagan could face a 25-year prison term and $34,000 in fines.

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He declined comment as he left the courthouse.

Deaver’s lawyer, Randall Turk, said the defense team will seek dismissal of the case by reasserting its challenge to the constitutionality of the law by which the special prosecutor, Whitney North Seymour Jr., was appointed.

Jackson asked for the defense motion dealing with the constitutional question to be filed by April 20.

Seymour’s indictment charged Deaver with lying to the grand jury and a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee about his contacts with the White House and other top U.S. officials on behalf of his private business clients after he left the Administration in 1985.

Several of the counts dealt with his statement about lobbying such officials as Treasury Secretary James A. Baker III, Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Hanford Dole and Secretary of State George P. Shultz on behalf of such clients as Puerto Rico, TWA, Boeing Co. and Rockwell International Corp.