Thurmond Tells Meese of ‘Concern’ : Senator’s Support Held Vital; Another Key Aide May Resign

Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S. C.), a conservative stalwart and key Justice Department ally on the Senate Judiciary Committee, met Thursday with Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III to express the “deep concern” of congressional colleagues about the turmoil within the department over Meese’s legal troubles.

The meeting was considered a potentially pivotal development in the continuing fallout over Meese’s problems and the resignation of two top-level Justice Department officials Tuesday.

Terse Statement

Thurmond--whose support is deemed critical to Meese--issued a terse statement that clearly disappointed supporters of the embattled attorney general and indicated that the crisis is worsening.

“A number of people on Capitol Hill have expressed deep concern about the problems at the Justice Department,” said Thurmond, former chairman and now ranking minority member of the judiciary panel. “I went today to talk to the attorney general to convey these concerns to him. I do not feel it would be appropriate to comment further at this time.”

In another possibly imminent blow to Meese, Justice Department sources said that Assistant Atty. Gen. Charles J. Cooper--a key member of Meese’s inner circle of advisers--is considering whether he should step down because he is concerned that Tuesday’s resignations may have been based on new and possibly incriminating information about Meese.

Cooper, sources said, is one of several Meese aides who are re-examining their positions because of the unexpected resignations. The names of the others could not be learned Thursday night.

It was also learned that Vice President George Bush’s campaign staff has become “very concerned” about the Meese issue. “They’re concerned about more resignations; they’re concerned about the appearance this creates,” a former White House staff member who has close ties to the Bush campaign said.

Cooper, speaking to the conservative Federalist Society in Raleigh, N. C., would not comment when asked about the Meese matter. In addition, he uncharacteristically refused to respond to several calls from a reporter.

A decision to resign by Cooper would represent a severe setback for Meese. As head of the department’s Office of Legal Counsel, Cooper is the attorney general’s lawyer, advising him on critical legal questions and issuing legal opinions on his behalf.

Cooper was one of the trusted aides Meese relied on in November, 1986, to conduct the much-criticized preliminary inquiry that uncovered the diversion to the Nicaraguan Contras of funds from the secret sales of arms to Iran.

After the Thurmond meeting, Meese aides were disappointed by the statement that the senator issued to reporters because they had hoped he would express support for the attorney general and state that he was withholding judgment until independent counsel James C. McKay completes his investigation of several allegations against Meese.

The senator was described by a source familiar with his thinking as concerned chiefly about morale and the integrity of the department, and his statement “was hardly a ringing endorsement” of Meese.

Thurmond’s unusual journey down Pennsylvania Avenue, although different in significant ways, reminded many in Washington of a turning point in the Watergate controversy, when Senate GOP leaders went to the White House to inform President Richard M. Nixon that he could no longer count on the support of congressional Republicans in his fight against impeachment.

In fact, the impeachment process was already under way when Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania, Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona and House Minority Leader John J. Rhodes of Arizona visited the White House and delivered the message--a key factor in Nixon’s resignation days later.

Although Meese has not been indicted on any criminal charges, Thurmond’s extraordinary mission was seen as a critical turn in the Meese affair.

The attorney general’s 20-minute meeting with Thurmond took place just before Meese appeared at a press conference at FBI headquarters to announce that an international drug ring had been broken. Reporters barraged him with shouted questions about his status.

When one reporter asked about the meeting with Thurmond, believing it had not yet taken place, Meese said only that he had no session with the South Carolina senator set for later in the day. His spokesman then issued a statement saying that Meese and Thurmond had met “on matters unrelated to drug policy,” adding that Meese expects “to continue working with the senator on drug and other judiciary-related issues for the balance of the year.”

As Meese strode into the FBI auditorium, accompanied by FBI Director William S. Sessions and several other FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration officials, as well as representatives of the Italian government who took part in the drug investigation, a reporter asked: “Are you planning to resign, sir?”

Declaring that he would answer questions only on the drug case, Meese said: “The business of law enforcement is going forward energetically and without interruption. Our strong management team is on the job.”

The attorney general said that he expects to announce “within the next several days” replacements for Deputy Atty. Gen. Arnold I. Burns and Assistant Atty. Gen. William F. Weld, who resigned Tuesday, apparently in an attempt to distance themselves from the allegations of impropriety and wrongdoing related to Meese.

Burns’ successor is expected to be Francis A. Keating II, now assistant secretary of the Treasury for enforcement, who is scheduled to accompany Meese next week on a five-country South American trip to bolster anti-cocaine efforts. Deputy Associate Atty. Gen. James I. K. Knapp is considered the front-runner for Weld’s job.

The attempts to question Meese at the press conference grew so persistent that he began to use the volume of his microphone to interrupt questioners with such comments as “You know better than that, come on.”

Within the Bush camp, aides working for the vice president’s campaign fear that any confirmation hearings for successors to Burns and Weld “will highlight the reason for the resignations in the first place.”

“However, it also allows George Bush to take a few steps out away from Ronald Reagan on an issue that is very close to Ronald Reagan’s heart personally,” said the official close to Bush’s campaign.

He said that, privately, Bush’s “attitude is (that) a department like that needs to be above reproach.”

When asked whether that means Bush believes that Meese should leave--and whether campaign officials want that impression left without the vice president’s spelling it out--the source said: “The inference there is pretty strong. He’s stating it the right way, from a political standpoint.”

Although Meese and his aides tried to portray the Justice Department as operating as usual, other department officials circulated among themselves and distributed to reporters copies of a presidential executive order on ethical conduct standards for government officers that they contended Meese had violated repeatedly.

First issued by President Lyndon B. Johnson in May, 1965, Executive Order No. 11222 directs that employees “avoid any action . . . which might result in, or create the appearance of:

“(1) using public office for private gain;

“(2) giving preferential treatment to any organization or person;

“(3) impeding government efficiency or economy;

“(4) losing complete independence or impartiality of action;

“(5) making a government decision outside official channels; or

“(6) affecting adversely the confidence of the public in the integrity of the government.”

The officials who distributed the order refused to be identified but noted that Weld, before resigning as head of the criminal division, had told colleagues that Meese had committed, “at the least, wholesale violations” of the presidential order.

Weld and other critics of Meese’s conduct cited in particular assistance he had extended as a government official to his longtime friend and former lawyer, E. Robert Wallach, on matters involving the scandal-plagued Wedtech Corp. and a controversial $1-billion Iraqi pipeline project. Wallach drew fees as a lawyer and consultant from both.

Staff writers James Gerstenzang and William J. Eaton contributed to this story.