FBI Agrees to Briefing on Freeh Fund-Raising Memo

WASHINGTON — The FBI agreed Wednesday to brief the House’s chief campaign finance investigator about Director Louis J. Freeh’s memo recommending appointment of an independent counsel.

The 22-page memo was subpoenaed by the House committee investigating campaign fund-raising after Atty. Gen. Janet Reno decided an independent counsel was not needed to investigate fund-raising telephone calls by President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.

Refusals by Freeh and Reno to turn over the memo had provoked threats by House Republicans to hold them in contempt of Congress.

Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) said Wednesday he was more interested in learning the contents of the memo than in getting a copy of it but insisted he would seek to enforce the subpoena if he is not satisfied with the information he gets in the briefing.

The agreement appeared to defuse the standoff between the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee and the Justice Department over the memo. But Burton’s announcement of the deal prompted disagreement from the Justice Department about its exact terms.

Both sides said the deal allows the FBI not to discuss portions of the memo that provide details about the Justice Department’s criminal investigation of political fund-raising.

But the FBI took issue with Burton’s statement that it had agreed to read portions of the memo during the briefing.

FBI spokesman Bill Carter said the bureau agreed only to provide a briefing.

“They are not going to hold it up and read it to them verbatim,” Carter said. “It is going to be a briefing.”

But Richard Bennett, the panel’s chief counsel, said: “Clearly there is going to be reading of the memo, as well as summarizing of the memo.

“Some of it is going to be read to us, some of it is going to be summarized, some of it will be redacted,” Bennett said. “That is based on my negotiations with the FBI and the Justice Department.”

Bennett said he negotiated the agreement with Larry Parkinson, the FBI’s general counsel, and Craig Iscoe, an aide to Deputy Atty. Gen. Eric Holder.

Besides Burton and himself, the bureau also will brief Rep. Henry A. Waxman of Los Angeles, the committee’s senior Democrat, and the minority counsel, Bennett said.

He said Burton is willing to discuss with the FBI and the Justice Department what, if any, public comments he would make after the session.

Freeh, meantime, raised the possibility that he might not serve out his full 10-year term, which ends August 2003. The director said he expects that the birth of his sixth child in the next few weeks might affect his decision.