Reno shares internal memos with Hill leaders

Attorney General Janet Reno may have dissolved the threat of a contempt of Congress citation by holding a Capitol Hill meeting Wednesday in which she shared internal memos on a campaign finance probe with some of her GOP detractors.

Key House Republican leaders, including Government Reform Committee Chairman Dan Burton, R-Ind., described the meeting as "helpful" and indicated it might lead to dropping the threat to cite Reno with contempt.

Although Burton was somewhat conciliatory toward Reno, he leveled a blast at unnamed "friends of Clinton," whom he accused of trying to intimidate him and his investigation of the administration. Burton's sharp remarks were a reference to what he claimed is an upcoming hatchet job on him in Vanity Fair magazine.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, was reticent as he escorted the mum Reno out of his office after the three-hour session. "This is serious stuff," Hatch said. "We're going to have to think this over."

Before the meeting, Hatch had questioned whether Reno was "stonewalling" on appointing an independent counsel to took into campaign finance. In pre-meeting interviews, Hatch said he wanted Reno to name an independent counsel with "broad-based authority" to look into campaign finance.

Among other participants in the closed meeting in Hatch's office were Senate Judiciary ranking member Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., House Judiciary Chairman Hyde, and Government Reform ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif. House Judiciary ranking member John Conyers, D-Mich., did not make it back from Detroit for the meeting, according to a Senate Judiciary Committee aide.

Also in attendance were David Schippers, the former federal prosecutor who is heading Hyde's possible impeachment staff; Thomas Mooney, Hyde's chief of staff; Charles LaBella, the prosecutor who ran Reno's internal task force that recommended she name an independent counsel; and James Desarno, an FBI agent who worked on the Justice Department internal inquiry.