Will ‘Follow Evidence,’ Thornburgh Says

Richard L. Thornburgh, President Reagan’s choice to replace Edwin Meese III as attorney general, said Tuesday that he would “follow the evidence wherever it may lead” in pursuing any recommendations stemming from an independent counsel’s 14-month investigation of Meese.

However, Thornburgh, whose nomination was announced by Reagan at the White House, said that he had no knowledge of the evidence compiled during the inquiry and refused to predict whether it would warrant subsequent action.

Thornburgh, a former governor of Pennsylvania, discussed his nomination to the nation’s top law enforcement job while attending a brief news conference with Reagan in the White House press room.

Report Under Study

The questions about Meese’s status referred to an 830-page report filed by independent counsel James C. McKay on his investigation of Meese. McKay decided not to seek a criminal indictment, but his report, which has not been publicly released, is being examined by the Justice Department’s ethics office to determine whether administrative or other action should be sought against Meese.

Thornburgh’s nomination is expected to sail through the Senate confirmation process with little opposition, giving him a six-month term. He dismissed speculation that he might like to stay on the job if Vice President George Bush is elected President, saying: “That’s something that’s entirely premature.”

However, reflecting Bush’s campaign effort to tie himself closely to the popular Republican President’s record, Thornburgh said that he was looking forward to helping “implement the priorities of the Reagan-Bush Administration, especially in the field of law enforcement and administration of criminal justice.”

Quick Action Urged

Reagan urged the Senate to move quickly on the nomination. Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S. C.), the ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that he hopes hearings will get under way soon, and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), the second-ranking Democrat on the panel, predicted rapid confirmation.

Reagan called the nominee “a prosecutor’s prosecutor” and “a tough-minded crime buster” who fought corruption and organized crime as a U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh from 1969 to 1975. Thornburgh served also as a top Justice Department official during the Gerald R. Ford Administration before being elected governor in 1978 and 1982.

Thornburgh, pressed by reporters to disclose whether he would look into the allegations raised about Meese, replied: “My intention--and this is in any area--is to follow the evidence wherever it may lead. And, not knowing what that evidence is, I can’t give you a prediction.”

The investigation of Meese looked into whether he was aware of a proposed payoff to an Israeli political party in a $1-billion pipeline project and into allegations that he helped scandal-plagued Wedtech Corp. gain an Army engine contract.

Meanwhile, White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said that no decisions had been made on whether Thornburgh, as attorney general, would fill other jobs held by Meese. Meese served as head of the Domestic Policy Council, which advises Reagan on domestic issues, and served on the National Security Council, in a non-statutory capacity. He also headed the President’s national drug policy board, coordinating the anti-drug efforts of several government agencies.