From: ndallen@nyx.cs.du.edu (Nigel Allen)
Subject: U.S. Justice Department Statement on Inslaw Affair
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix @ U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 92 23:38:30 GMT


[I don't work for the Justice Department; I'm just forwarding its press
release. - NDA]
 
Here is a press release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

 Justice Department Releases Statement
 To: National Desk
 Contact: U.S. Department of Justice, Public Affairs, 202-514-2007

   WASHINGTON, Oct. 13  -- The Department of Justice released today 
the following statement:

   Attorney General William P. Barr today told the House Committee
on the Judiciary that he will not seek the appointment of an
Independent Counsel as requested in a Sept. 10 letter from a
majority of the committee's Democratic members.  His reasons for
this decision were set forth in a letter to the Committee.  Under
the Independent Counsel statute, only the committee can make these
materials public, and the attorney general has asked that it do so.
   The Sept. 10 letter requested the appointment of an independent
counsel to investigate allegations contained in a report adopted by
the committee's Democratic majority members entitled, "The Inslaw
Affair" (Report).
   The independent counsel statute was designed to apply to certain
exceptional cases.  Accordingly, the statute's specialized
procedures are triggered in two specifically defined circumstances
-- one mandatory and one discretionary.
   The mandatory provision, 28 U.S.C. 591 (a), requires the
attorney general to apply the procedures of the statute if and when
he receives specific and credible information sufficient to warrant
a criminal investigation of a "covered person."  Covered persons'
are a small group of the most senior officials in the Executive
Branch who are specifically listed in the statute.
   The discretionary provision of the statute, 28 U.S.C. 591 (c),
authorizes, but does not require, the Attorney General to proceed
under the statute if: (1) he receives specific and credible
information sufficient to warrant a criminal investigation of
someone other than a "covered person"; and (2) he determines that
an investigation or prosecution of that person by the Attorney
General or other officer of the Department "may result in a
personal, financial or political conflict of interest."
   The department has concluded that the report contains no
specific information that any "covered person" has committed a
crime.
   Regarding "non-covered" persons, long before the committee
completed its report, Attorney General Barr appointed retired U.S.
District Judge Nicholas J. Bua as special counsel to investigate
all matters related to INSLAW.  Judge Bua has had an outstanding
judicial career which has spanned almost thirty years.  He has
served on the county, circuit and appellate courts in Illinois, and
in 1977, President Carter appointed him to the U.S. District Court
in Chicago.
   Judge Bua has full authority to conduct a thorough and complete
investigation of all INSLAW allegations -- including the power to
issue subpoenas and to convene grand juries.  He is conducting his
investigation in a fair and impartial manner.  The attorney
general's instructions included from the outset of this
investigation for Judge Bua to notify him of any information
implicating the independent counsel statute.  Judge Bua found no
evidence to support invoking the mandatory or discretionary
provisions of the independent counsel statute before the report was
issued, or since reviewing the report.
   After an exhaustive review of the allegations, in accordance
with the requirements of the statute, the Attorney General will not
seek the appointment of an Independent Counsel at this time.  The
department invites the committee, Congress, or any other source, to
provide any new information that warrants invoking the independent
counsel statute.
 -30-