The Nation - News from April 29, 1988

White House staff members were ordered by Chief of Staff Howard H. Baker Jr. to avoid speculating about the political survival of embattled Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III or participating in any effort to bring about his removal. A senior official said Baker began the daily 8 a.m. White House meeting by saying: “The President continues to have confidence in the attorney general and I have confidence in the attorney general and you ought to have confidence in the attorney general. . . . And if anyone has a different view of that . . . he can tell me about it because we’re going to have to discuss your status.” Later in the day, Baker responded to published reports that he and others in the White House were trying to oust Meese by saying that he is “not part of any effort to push Ed Meese out.”