Meese’s Justice Dept. Called ‘Alice in Wonderland’ World : 2 Ex-Aides Tell Why They Quit

WASHINGTON — A former top Justice Department official, describing the atmosphere at the department under Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III, today told a congressional committee that it was “a world of Alice in Wonderland . . . a world of illusion.”

Former Deputy Atty. Gen. Arnold I. Burns told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he and former Assistant Atty. Gen. William F. Weld resigned last March because they could no longer condone what they believed was improper conduct by Meese.

“I could not permit my silence and inaction to be construed as condonation of what was going on,” Burns told the committee.

Business Concerns

Burns and Weld said they resigned together on March 29 because of their concerns about Meese’s business relationships with his close friend, E. Robert Wallach.

A report made public last week by James McKay, an independent counsel appointed to investigate Meese, found that the attorney general probably violated federal conflict of interest and tax laws, but the report did not recommend that any criminal action be taken against him.

Meese announced July 5 that he would resign within a few weeks. President Reagan nominated former Pennsylvania Gov. Richard Thornburgh to succeed him.

Meese, in a preemptive attack on his two former aides, said on Monday that if Burns and Weld had done a competent and thorough preliminary investigation of the allegations, McKay’s investigation would not have been needed.

‘Unwarranted Attack’

Burns said Meese’s remarks were an unwarranted attack on the lawyers and other professionals at the Justice Department and indicated that Meese still believed everyone was wrong except him.

Burns said he resigned because it was clear to him that he could “no longer bear silent witness to the deterioration of morale, the paralysis in performance setting in in the department and the continuing erosion of public confidence in the department.”

“It was a world of Alice in Wonderland. It was a world of illusion,” Burns said in describing the atmosphere at the Justice Department under Meese.

Weld said Wallach took advantage of his friendship with Meese to earn over $1 million as a consultant for Wedtech Corp. of New York and a group considering the construction of an oil pipeline in Iraq.

Too Many Favors

“My conclusion was that there were simply too many official acts performed by Mr. Meese to benefit Mr. Wallach, and too many things of value conferred by Mr. Wallach on Mr. Meese,” Weld said.

“I simply felt that, in trying to do favors for his friend, Mr. Meese was simply drawn in over his head, and over the line of what the law allows.”

Weld said if Meese were an ordinary public official, he would have been prosecuted for accepting gifts in violation of federal law.

Burns said he advised Meese in April, 1987, that he should break his relationship with Wallach, but Meese refused.

Burns said: “With my tongue tied by the confidentiality demanded of me by the law, there was only one way I could make a statement that something was wrong. I chose it. I resigned.”

Meeting With Reagan

The two former officials met with President Reagan before submitting their resignations and told him they believed there was sufficient evidence to indict Meese.

But Reagan, who met privately with Meese afterward to get his version of events, wound up giving him a vote of confidence.

“The President simply did not believe their charges and did not give them merit. . . . He heard out their story and said he still has confidence in Ed Meese,” White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said at his daily news briefing.

“I guess they didn’t make a very good case,” he said.