Meese Denies Offering Job to Friend Under Scrutiny

Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III on Sunday denied a contention by former Deputy Atty. Gen. Arnold I. Burns that Meese offered close friend E. Robert Wallach a job in the Justice Department when Meese was aware that Wallach was under criminal investigation.

Meese, who has announced that he will resign this month or in early August, also said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that whoever leaked details of an independent counsel’s report should be held in contempt, even if it was Wallach.

And he predicted that the final report by independent prosecutor James C. McKay will show that Meese’s actions were ethical as well as legal.

No Charges Sought

A sealed report filed by McKay last week sought no charges against Meese, and Meese and President Reagan said the report vindicates the attorney general.

But the New York Times quoted portions of the report Saturday raising some ethical questions about Meese’s conduct, including the job offer to Wallach.

Wallach, a former Meese lawyer and confidant, is awaiting trial on a racketeering indictment accusing him and two others of taking illegal payments from Wedtech Corp., a Bronx, N.Y., defense contractor, to influence government officials.

The newspaper said the report gives a detailed account of discussions between Meese and Wallach about Wallach possibly joining the Justice Department, although Meese denied to the FBI and a grand jury that he made Wallach a job offer. In both instances, Meese later changed his testimony, acknowledging some discussion of a job for Wallach, the paper quoted the report as saying.

“At no time whatsoever was there any thought whatsoever of Bob Wallach taking any job in the Justice Department while there was any possibility he was under criminal investigation,” Meese said Sunday. He acknowledged, however, that there had been some discussion of a possible job for Wallach “which went out of my mind after I found out about the criminal investigation.”