It's Lonely at the Top

As wave after wave of scandal has battered Attorney General Edwin Meese and eroded the credibility of his Justice Department, he has clung for months to the time-honored defense of officials in trouble: the accusations were politically motivated. But last week, in a series of dramatic confrontations, that defense crumbled.

First, Meese was bluntly told by William Weld, chief of the Justice Department's criminal division, that he might be subject to indictment for his dealings with E. Robert Wallach, a central figure in both the Wedtech and Iraqi pipeline affairs. Weld and Deputy Attorney General Arnold Burns, the second in command, warned Meese that his behavior was "poisoning the department." Then the two officials, handpicked by Meese for their senior posts, publicly announced their resignations and those of four of their closest advisers.

The next day Solicitor General Charles Fried personally urged Meese to resign. Finally, Strom Thurmond, one of the Senate's most conservative Republicans, marched into the Attorney General's office to express the "deep concern" of his Capitol Hill colleagues about the example Meese was setting as the nation's top law-enforcement officer.

Despite the onslaught, Ronald Reagan once again stubbornly expressed his "full confidence in my friend of 20 years." Meese blithely insisted that he had no intention of quitting. He was helped by a terse announcement from Independent Counsel James McKay that his probe of Meese's ties to Wedtech and the pipeline had turned up insufficient evidence to indict the Attorney General.

While Meese insisted that the "department is functioning in its normal fashion" and "our strong management team is on the job," morale below him was sagging. There was so much grumbling in the Justice Department that a special custodial team was assigned to erase scornful graffiti from the bathrooms and walls. Three of the top leadership posts are vacant. (Assistant Attorney General Stephen Trott has also resigned, to take a federal judgeship.)

When Weld recently urged U.S. Attorneys to get tougher on corruption, he ran into cynical replies. Says a Justice official: "Their reaction was to laugh and say, 'What about your boss? Why don't you start at the Attorney General level?' "

In defending Meese on the basis of friendship, the President implied that his personal relationship with the Attorney General took precedence over the integrity and effectiveness of the Justice Department. Other Republicans were more concerned. Some members of Reagan's White House staff have quietly supported the pressure on Meese to step aside. Instead of criticizing the abrupt departure of Weld and Burns, they praised it, in the words of one adviser, as an "act of principle."

When Burns and Weld told Meese they were quitting, sources say, Meese at first laughed. "Is this a joke?" he asked. "No, Ed, this is no joke," they replied. Asked Meese: "Why are you doing this?" Burns said that Meese had an "appearance problem" that was hurting the department. Both men declared that in good conscience they could not remain.