Heritage of Watergate

A special prosecutor may have to probe the Jordan affair

Did Hamilton Jordan really snort cocaine on that 1978 visit to Manhattan's far-out Studio 54? The possibility is growing stronger that a special prosecutor will have to be appointed to investigate the evening's entertainment enjoyed by the White House chief of staff. Under the stringent provisions of the 1978 Ethics in Government Act, there may be no other way to determine whether it is Jordan or his accusers who are telling the truth.

Two new witnesses turned up last week. One, a show business public relations agent named Barry Landau, provided the first corroboration of part of the story — though not the crucial part — told by lawyers for Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager, two own ers of the celebrated disco. They are under indictment for tax evasion, and Schrager has also been charged with possession of cocaine. The White House has accused them of concocting false charges against Jordan in order to bargain for leniency. Landau, who said he had met Jordan at various receptions and dinners, has no such obvious ax to grind, though he is a crony of Rubell's. Said he, in a sworn statement given to the FBI:

"I was at Studio 54 when I ran into Hamilton Jordan ... He said he wanted to see where all the action was, where the famous basement caves were and if he could obtain some cocaine ... Shortly thereafter Steve Rubell appeared, whom I proceeded to introduce to Ham and his lady friends. A young man who is referred to as Johnny C and whom I know by sight and reputation as the man who always seems to put his fingers on such items as Ham had requested, suddenly appeared.

They [Jordan, Rubell and Johnny C] disappeared for a while." Rubell had earlier said that during the disappearance Johnny C slipped Jordan some coke and Rubell watched him snort some.

Last week, however, the FBI found Johnny C. TIME learned two details of his statement: he said his name is John Conaghan—and he denied ever giving Jordan any cocaine. That contradicted a statement he allegedly made on tape to Studio 54's owners. The FBI interviewed four other people who had been with Jordan at Studio 54; none had observed any use of cocaine.

However the Studio 54 incident turns out, Administration supporters fear that new accusations of White House aides using drugs may come from other sources.

Since early in the Carter Administration, in fact, there has been talk in Washington of such practices. Indeed, the matter came up explicitly in July 1978, when Dr.

Peter Bourne, health policy adviser to the White House, had to quit his post after he had improperly prescribed a drug for a friend. At the time, sources charged that Bourne himself had used cocaine. He told a New York Times reporter that there was "a high incidence" of marijuana and occasional cocaine use among members of the White House staff.

Jordan has denied all the Studio 54 charges, and the case is hardly the kind Congress had in mind when it drafted the Ethics in Government Act. The law began to take shape after President Nixon fired Watergate Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox. Congress set out to specify in detail the powers and tenure of a special prosecutor.

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