Committee Sees Thornburgh Restoring Confidence in Justice Dept.

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee greeted the nomination of Richard L. Thornburgh as attorney general with warm, bipartisan support Friday and predicted that he will help “to restore public confidence” in the Justice Department.

Thornburgh, a former two-term Pennsylvania governor who is considered a Republican moderate, said insistence on high ethical standards would be among his top priorities in succeeding embattled Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III.

“I will be highly sensitive to appearances of impropriety, as well as impropriety itself,” Thornburgh pledged at his confirmation hearing before the committee. The panel is expected to approve his nomination next week in anticipation of action by the full Senate before it adjourns by Aug. 12 for the Republican National Convention.

Questioned by Kennedy

Thornburgh made this statement in response to a question by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), the committee’s acting chairman. Kennedy asked Thornburgh, who has many friends in and out of government, whether he would guarantee “equal access to the attorney general” by anyone who had a legitimate case to press.

Kennedy’s query was based on concerns about Meese’s close relationship to his longtime friend and former lawyer, E. Robert Wallach, who was once a director of the scandal-scarred Wedtech Corp. That relationship was sharply criticized last month by independent counsel James C. McKay in his report on a 14-month investigation of Meese’s conduct.

Wallach is under indictment on charges that he extracted hundreds of thousands of dollars from the now-defunct Wedtech with assurances that he was lobbying Meese on behalf of the New York defense contractor.

Thornburgh said McKay’s report contained “gratuitious observations” that were “at least questionable.” He told the committee: “It ill becomes a responsible prosecutor to pass upon guilt or innocence” once that prosecutor has decided not to press criminal charges.

May Depart Aug. 15

Meese, who resigned claiming he had been vindicated by McKay’s report, has told associates that he will leave office around Aug. 15. He was not charged with any crimes.

But Kennedy, noting that Meese’s conduct is still the subject of a further internal investigation by the Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, asked Thornburgh: “Can you assure us you will do everything in your power to assist this investigation?”

“Yes, I can, with one reservation,” the nominee replied, adding that the office was “an independent agency” not under the attorney general’s control. He said he would “not try to influence them in any way.”

Thornburgh’s own conduct as an assistant attorney general from 1975 to 1977, during the Gerald R. Ford Administration, was the subject of a series of questions about his knowledge of alleged drug-running by Panamanian officials. By day’s end, however, he seemed to have satisfied the panel that he had done nothing improper.

Asked About Documents

Committee members asked about a Wall Street Journal story published Friday that cited indications in internal Justice Department documents that Thornburgh may have withheld information from Congress in 1975 about Panamanian drug trafficking. He was head of the department’s criminal division at the time.

Thornburgh said he had only “a peripheral involvement” in discussions that led then-Atty. Gen. Edward H. Levi to withhold data from Congress temporarily while potential prosecutions were being considered at the department.

He said lawyers from his division, assigned to report directly to Levi, were studying evidence of drug crimes by high-ranking Panamanian officials, as well as allegations that some U.S. agents had plotted to assassinate military leader Manuel A. Noriega for his involvement in narcotics deals.

Thornburgh said no prosecutions ever were brought. In view of this, Levi subsequently provided information about the case to a Senate subcommittee, he said. Thornburgh added that, if confirmed, he would seek to provide all relevant documents to the Judiciary Committee.

Noriega Under Indictment

Noriega, now the de facto leader of Panama, was indicted on drug trafficking charges last Feb. 5 by federal grand juries in Tampa and Miami. Although fired by Panama’s president, Noriega has refused to step down and remains beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement. He has withstood American diplomatic efforts to topple him from power.

“I am determined to see that Gen. Noriega is prosecuted if appropriate jurisdiction over him can be determined,” Thornburgh told the committee.

In fact, he said, his top priority as attorney general would be eliminating “the scourge of narcotics and dangerous drugs” from American society.

Even before Thornburgh gave his testimony, Democratic and Republican senators alike praised his credentials, a rarity for a panel that has been so bitterly divided over past appointments, such as Meese’s nomination in 1984 and the failed Supreme Court bid of Robert H. Bork last year.

Told to ‘Repair Damage’

Kennedy told Thornburgh that “it will be your responsibility to restore the confidence of the American people” in the department and “repair damage” that he said had been caused by Meese’s conduct. Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum (D-Ohio) said that “the department stands on the edge of a new era of leadership.”

Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) said Thornburgh would demonstrate “integrity, good judgment and competence,” and Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) told his colleagues: “I know with Dick Thornburgh in that office, we won’t have to talk about ethics any more.”