Reno, Freeh Downplay Differences Over Probe

House Republicans sought Tuesday to play up the differences between Atty. Gen. Janet Reno and FBI Director Louis J. Freeh over their investigation of alleged campaign finance abuses, but the nation’s top two law enforcement officials presented a united front during hours of sometimes testy sparring with GOP lawmakers.

Reno steadfastly defended her decision not to recommend appointment of an independent counsel in the campaign fund-raising controversy, saying she stuck to the facts and the law and did not consider polls, newspaper editorials or attacks from Capitol Hill.

While acknowledging he disagreed with Reno’s conclusion, Freeh said he respected his boss for her professionalism and did not question her integrity in ruling against him.

“In the four and one-quarter years we have worked together, I have seen her bring nothing but integrity and honesty to the table,” Freeh said. He added that a difference of opinion among lawyers is nothing new.

Testifying one after the other, Reno and Freeh heaped praise on each other. They seemed intent on dispelling the notion that their very public disagreement had caused a damaging breach in their working relationship.

The harmony frustrated Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), chairman of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee, who sought in vain to obtain an internal memorandum in which Freeh laid out his disagreements with Reno. He asked for it, demanded it and even issued a subpoena for it--but neither Reno nor Freeh would hand it over.

To do so, they argued, would interfere with their ongoing investigation of the donations scandal, provide a “road map” of the confidential inquiry and hamper internal Justice Department deliberations.

“I’m sure you agree we should do nothing to jeopardize the investigation,” Reno said.

Although Reno and Freeh spent all day at the witness table, their revelations were few. Each expressed respect for Congress’ legitimate oversight of executive branch activities but balked at providing information that could interfere with the ongoing review of fund-raising abuses.

“This has all the appearances of an attorney general protecting the president,” Burton fumed at one point, accusing Reno of hiding behind legal technicalities.

“I’m not hiding,” Reno shot back. “I’ve tried to answer every question I could that would not interfere with the content of a criminal investigation.”

Reno said she agonized over her decision not to seek an independent counsel to probe fund-raising telephone calls that President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore made from the White House. She also turned down an independent review of a $25,000 contribution by Torrance entrepreneur Johnny Chung that he has alleged earned him a meeting with former Energy Secretary Hazel O’Leary.

“My only guiding star is my desire to follow every lead, to find the truth and apply the law,” Reno said. “I don’t care where the facts lead, because I’m going to follow them as far as and wherever they go.”

Under questioning by Burton, Reno refused to say whether she consulted two political appointees--Deputy Atty. Gen. Eric Holder and Reno’s chief of staff, John Hogan--before making her decision. Although she wouldn’t name names, she did say she spoke to a variety of officials, career prosecutors and political appointees alike.

Later, Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) again demanded that Reno reveal whether she consulted Holder or Hogan, saying she was legally bound to do so. But again, she demurred.

In another clash, Rep. John L. Mica (R-Fla.) said he was on the verge of citing Reno for contempt for her lack of cooperation.

“What do you want?” Reno asked him sternly. “All the details of the investigation?”

Repeatedly rising to Reno’s defense was Rep. Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo), who praised her as a “paragon of public virtue” who was calling the shots based on the law and not “cheap, petty, personal partisan attacks.” As for Republicans’ effort to obtain Freeh’s memo, Lantos called that “an irresponsible, politically motivated, tawdry, partisan request.”

After watching for hours as committee Republicans grilled Reno, Freeh took his seat at the witness table late in the afternoon.

While declining to detail his disagreement with Reno, Freeh suggested his recommendation that she seek appointment of an independent counsel was based in part on his view that the Justice Department needed to avoid the appearance that it was protecting the president.

His recommendation did not, however, reflect a belief that any “particular person” had broken the law, he said.

“I recommended appointment of an independent counsel to investigate whether crimes may have been committed, but nothing more should be inferred,” he said.

“I made the recommendation on more than one basis,” Freeh said. “I prefer not to go beyond that.”

But when Lantos tried to draw Freeh into minimizing the depth of his belief that an outside prosecutor is needed, Freeh declared: “If I didn’t feel very strongly in the recommendation, I wouldn’t have made it.”

Despite Reno’s decision not to recommend an independent counsel, Freeh said no area of the investigation has closed.

“I can assure you . . . that the FBI is not impeded in any way in conducting our investigation,” Freeh said. “No investigative avenues have been closed and nothing has changed.”

Burton and his colleagues did win some points, however, as Freeh said under questioning that the White House’s deliberate pace in supplying sought-after material “slows things down.”

“I’m not confident we have all the documents yet,” said Freeh, who will continue his testimony today. Also set to testify before the committee is Donald C. Smaltz, the independent counsel investigating former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy for allegedly accepting illegal gratuities.

The latest documents to be handed over were notes from presidential aide Janis Kearney of Clinton’s senior staff meetings, which White House lawyers delivered to congressional committees Monday. “A miscommunication” between Kearney and her boss caused the delay, White House special counsel Lanny J. Davis told reporters Tuesday.