Reno Edges Toward Seeking Another Independent Probe

WASHINGTON —  After steadfastly resisting such a step for more than a year, Atty. Gen. Janet Reno is moving toward recommending the appointment of an independent counsel to investigate allegations of illegal fund-raising on behalf of President Clinton’s reelection, according to government officials.

Reno is reviewing the role of Harold M. Ickes, the former deputy White House chief of staff, in orchestrating the 1996 reelection effort as well as new information concerning fund-raising telephone calls by Vice President Al Gore, the officials said.

Appointment of another independent counsel would be troubling for Clinton, who is already reeling from the four-year inquiry by Kenneth W. Starr. An investigation of Democratic campaign fund-raising irregularities also could dog Gore throughout his expected presidential bid in 2000.

“I don’t think the issue is [requesting appointment of an independent counsel] but how narrowly the jurisdiction is worded,” said an official close to the process. But, he cautioned, Reno has made no decision and could always stand firm against requesting an outside prosecutor.

The jurisdiction questions focus on whether to include both Ickes and Gore and, in terms of Ickes, whether the investigative mandate would be limited to specific allegations or drawn more broadly, the official said.

Gore spokesman Chris Lehane confirmed that Gore was interviewed in recent weeks by Justice Department investigators.

“Whenever this process ends, at whatever stage, we’re confident it will show that everything the vice president did was legal and proper,” Lehane said.

Democrats on Capitol Hill also said they believe Reno will ask for the appointment of a new counsel, which would be her eighth such request.

Some Democrats pointed to advice that she do so from senior career law enforcement officials--FBI Director Louis J. Freeh and Assistant U.S. Atty. Charles G. LaBella. Freeh had urged Reno to request an independent counsel last year. LaBella, her choice to head a special campaign finance task force until he stepped down recently, did so in a confidential report in July.

LaBella met with Reno for more than an hour last week to discuss his report.

Reno said Thursday that she is “continuing to review the matter” and is prepared to keep her previous commitment to brief Senate Judiciary Chairman Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) and his colleagues as early as this week.

Reno insisted that she would not be influenced by relentless Republican pressure, including a partisan vote by a House committee to recommend that she be cited for contempt of Congress.

“If I get threatened, I still make the right decisions. And if it turns out wrong for me, that’s too bad,” Reno said.

Ickes was not among the senior officials covered by the mandatory provision of the Independent Counsel Act. But LaBella has argued in his memo that Ickes should be treated as one because he exercised authority at the national level over campaign fund-raising. A specific issue under scrutiny is whether Ickes committed perjury during Senate hearings last year.

Ickes, who has denied wrongdoing, is out of the country and could not be reached.

Reno declined to seek an independent prosecutor to investigate fund-raising calls by Clinton and Gore last December. The Wall Street Journal first reported this week that the Justice Department had reopened its review of Gore’s calls. The action was based on new information raising questions about whether Gore knew that he was soliciting “hard money,” which can be used for direct campaign purposes and is subject to campaign finance prohibitions. Gore said he believed that he was raising “soft money,” which can be used only for party activities and does not face the same restrictions.