Thursday, February 27, 1997 - Page updated at 12:00 AM
E-mail article
Print viewJustice Dept. To Probe Possible FBI Cover-Up
AP
WASHINGTON - Attorney General Janet Reno assigned the Justice Department's inspector general today to investigate whether the FBI covered up allegations that one of its crime-lab agents testified falsely during the ouster of a federal judge.
She acted after Republican Sens. Charles Grassley of Iowa and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania said yesterday they would not be content with the internal investigation begun Tuesday by FBI Director Louis Freeh because they are wary of the FBI's ability to police itself.
"We're trying to have the inspector general pursue every issue" about the lab, Reno said today. Her spokesman, Bert Brandenburg, said Freeh agreed to transfer the probe to the inspector general.
Grassley, chairman of a Senate Judiciary panel that oversees the FBI, had written Reno asking her to take that step.
"It is better for an independent investigation," Grassley wrote. "Questions have been raised in the public arena in recent years regarding the FBI's ability to investigate itself."
Specter, a Judiciary Committee member who investigated the FBI's deadly Ruby Ridge, Idaho, siege, said, "It's atrocious what's coming out about the falsification of testimony. The Judiciary Committee has to pick this up" in hearings.
Freeh said he learned for the first time Tuesday that the bureau may have withheld from Congress, judges and defense attorneys a 1989 memo by FBI lab examiner William Tobin. The memo alleged that lab agent Michael Malone gave 27 instances of false or misleading testimony in proceedings that led to the impeachment and ouster of District Judge Alcee Hastings in 1989.
"How can he (Freeh) say that this is the first time he had heard of this?" Grassley asked in a Senate floor speech yesterday. "It's in the report that's been sitting on Mr. Freeh's desk since January 20th."
Grassley was referring to a draft report on lab problems by the Justice Department's inspector general, who Grassley said discovered the Tobin memo, but "nothing was done to correct the record."
Copyright (c) 1997 Seattle Times Company, All Rights Reserved.
nwjobs
Post a comment
Michelle Goodman blogs about work/life balance.
How to tell your office you're gravely ill
Post a comment
nwautos
Choosing a new car? Weigh the impact of your choice on your wallet and on the planet.
Post a comment
Open Houses | Find this weekend's open house listings.  Or search by location: |
- Craigslist adoption ad: A plea by young mother-to-be? A scam?
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helen's and Astoria, Ore.
- Italian lead prosecutor argues Knox motive was hatred
- Italian prosecutors request life sentence for UW student
- Man shot in chest on E. Union Street in Capitol Hill
- Washington state wines make annual best-of list
- Mariners Blog | A Mariners-Tigers swap makes a whole lot of sense for both teams
- Lynnwood is reinventing itself — again
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- Chase shrugs off loss of CD investors
- Senate vote clears hurdle
229 - Mariners add six to 40-man roster 147
- Tight Senate vote launches health care over hurdle 104
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000 97
- Palin excitement builds in Tri-Cities 80
- Prosecutor requests life in prison for Amanda Knox 79
- Cutting through breast-cancer confusion 65
- Game thread 63
- Saturday links 54
- Vikings easily beat the Seahawks 49
- Washington state wines make annual best-of list
- Nonprofits get creative using Twitter and Facebook to make donation easier
- It's possible to recover a life lost to hoarding
- Lynnwood is reinventing itself — again
- Great places to cross-country ski for free (or almost) in the Methow
- Child-support error costs nearly $21,000
- 'The Road' takes Viggo Mortensen to Mount St. Helen's and Astoria, Ore.
- Recipes: Sesame Pork Roast, Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes, Gingerbread with Lemon Sauce and more
- 175 foster kids in Washington get 'forever families'
- UW provost tapped for Nike's board
