A Wolff in Sheik's Clothing

Abscam 's biggest TV special debuts in a Brooklyn court

Wearing a gray suit and an even grayer expression, New Jersey Senator Harrison Williams Jr., 61, made his way into Brooklyn's U.S. District Court last week. He is the last suspect to be brought to trial on bribery and corruption charges in the Government's Abscam (for "Arab scam") case. A 22-year veteran of the Senate, he is also the most important figure to face a jury as a result of the FBI sting operation. Like the six U.S. Congressmen already tried and convicted on Abscam charges, Williams faces a barrage of electronic evidence in the form of video and audio tapes of his encounters with undercover FBI agents. But in Williams' case, a figure mentioned but never before seen in Abscam tapes makes a dramatic appearance: "Sheik" Yassir Habib, a bogus Arab millionaire portrayed by Agent Richard Farhart, outfitted in dark glasses and kafiiyeh and grunting in imitation broken English.

In his opening argument, Assistant Prosecutor Edward A. McDonald depicted Williams as "a corrupt public official," who had promised to use his influence in Washington to obtain Government contracts for a titanium mine in Virginia. In return, the Senator was to receive part ownership of the mine and $12.6 million. McDonald, quoting from FBI tapes, said that Williams had told agents he would "with great pleasure talk to the President of the United States about [the mining contracts] and in a personal way get him as enthusiastic and excited." McDonald also quoted from tapes showing Williams pledging to "do everything in my power" to arrange permanent U.S. residency papers for the bogus Sheik Habib.

Defense Counsel George Koelzer presented another view of the case: "a fraud, a sham, a fake, a lie, a disgrace." The "trusting, easygoing" Williams, said Koelzer, had been taken in by a scheme "created, controlled, produced and directed" by FBI Informer Mel Weinberg. Moreover, said Koelzer, the defendant had refused to accept a bribe for helping Habib immigrate--a fact borne out by tapes introduced later in the week.

Though Williams' attorney refuses to detail his strategy, he will probably attempt to show that his client was the victim of entrapment, as defined by the Justice Department in 1981 guidelines to FBI agents: "Inducement or encouragement of an individual to engage in illegal activity in which he would otherwise not be disposed to engage." Key to this defense are tapes showing undercover agents coaching Williams to "come on strong" when he meets the ersatz Arab, telling him, "It's all bull. You gotta play and blow your horn."

Entrapped or not, Williams certainly took their advice on how to treat a sheik.

Tapes introduced by the prosecutor last week show him boasting to Habib of his connections with then Secretary of State Cyrus Vance ("a neighbor back in New Jersey"), with Fritz Mondale ("the Vice President used to work for me," on a Senate committee) and with Howard Baker ("he's in the same class I am ... I'm just a little ahead of him in seniority"). Other tapes showed Co-defendant Alexander Feinberg, 72, Williams' personal attorney, discussing his role in the titanium deal with FBI Operative Weinberg, telling him that Williams is "happy as a lark about it."

After sitting through five days of what must have been painful embarrassment, Williams insisted he was still "very confident" and "feeling good," though sorry to be missing work while "the budget vote is going on." The Senator's press secretary, Michael McCurry, was even more upbeat: "Constituents are remaining very loyal," he said, adding that New Jersey's biggest newspaper, the Newark Star Ledger, only a few days earlier had called Williams the state's "most popular politician."

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