While at Justice, current FBI director approved subpoena for reporter's records
By The Associated Press
08.30.01
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| Robert Mueller |
WASHINGTON — As one of his last acts before leaving his temporary Justice Department post, FBI Director Robert Mueller signed off on a subpoena for the personal phone records of an Associated Press reporter.
Word of Mueller's role emerged yesterday when a department official confirmed that Mueller was acting deputy attorney general until May 14. Approval for the subpoena was made on or before that date.
The subpoena was part of a leak probe triggered by AP reporter John Solomon's May 4 story about a wiretap intercept of Sen. Robert Torricelli discussing campaign donations. U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White's office, which is investigating the New Jersey Democrat's fund raising, requested the subpoena for the reporter's records.
The AP story was attributed to unidentified law enforcement officials, who could be prosecuted for leaking information obtained through federal wiretaps.
Since Attorney General John Ashcroft had disqualified himself from matters relating to the investigation, the job of approving the subpoena fell to Mueller, Ashcroft's top deputy at the time.
President Bush nominated Mueller as FBI director in July.
A department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the current deputy attorney general, Larry Thompson, was confirmed May 10 and started at the Justice Department on May 15.
"The attorney general and all staff who are recused from the Torricelli matter had no knowledge of the subpoena and were not involved in any decisions regarding it," said David Israelite, Ashcroft's deputy chief of staff.
Mueller, a veteran federal prosecutor, was confirmed as FBI director Aug. 2 and then underwent prostate cancer surgery. His first day on the job will be Sept. 4.
Sen. Charles Grassley, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who voted for Mueller but has been a harsh critic of the FBI, sharply criticized the decision to subpoena Solomon's records.
Grassley, R-Iowa, said yesterday that such drastic action should be reserved for "an extreme case of national security."
"This is a criminal case that does not affect national security and consequently should not even be considered by the Justice Department in soliciting records."
He told the AP that he would expect that "a Republican and the Bush administration" should be "particularly protective of the freedom of the press and news reporter confidentiality."
Grassley worried during Mueller's confirmation hearing that the director-designate's lack of a history with the FBI might make him oblivious to the bureau's "culture problem."
The Society of Professional Journalists noted that the subpoena of Solomon's phone records comes only weeks after the Justice Department succeeding in imprisoning novice crime writer Vanessa Leggett in Houston for withholding notes from a grand jury.
"This is another instance in which the Justice Department has shown tremendous disregard for its own policies and the First Amendment," said Ray Marcano, SPJ president and an assistant managing editor of Ohio's Dayton Daily News. "The Justice Department must immediately stop its attempts at threatening and intimidating journalists and writers. Someone at Justice needs to held accountable for these outrageous acts."
FBI spokesman John Collingwood would not discuss any action Mueller took while he was acting deputy attorney general and referred questions about Mueller's involvement in the subpoena approval to the Justice Department. Department spokeswoman Susan Dryden refused comment. Requests to interview Mueller also were denied.
Solomon's story on Torricelli appeared May 4, and the subpoena covered his incoming and outgoing residential telephone records from May 2-7.
Mueller was chosen by the Bush administration to repair the FBI after a string of embarrassments that Mueller, at his confirmation hearing a month ago, pledged to address.
He was named by Bush to fill a 10-year term as the sixth full-time director of the FBI.
Mueller served as U.S. attorney in San Francisco and Boston and as the Justice Department's assistant attorney general in charge of its criminal division under the first President Bush. There, he supervised the prosecutions of Manuel Noriega and John Gotti and headed the investigation of the BCCI banking scandal and the 1988 bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.
Update
Sen. Grassley seeks documents related to subpoena of AP reporter's records
Meanwhile, government drops effort to collect bookstore purchase records of Sen. Robert Torricelli, others.
09.05.01
Previous
Critics have doubts Justice followed law in obtaining reporter's phone records
‘It's hard to believe that they could have complied’ with federal requirements in just 10 days, says NYU law professor.
08.29.01
Related
Federal appeals panel refuses to free jailed writer
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08.20.01
