Meese "Malaise"

Their criticisms of Attorney General Edwin Meese have been aired in the past month, but this time the two top Justice Department officials had an elite audience: Ronald Reagan and George Bush. In the Oval Office last Wednesday, the two attorneys told the President that his friend of 20 years lacked the "moral authority" to remain the nation's top law-enforcement officer.

Outgoing Deputy Attorney General Arnold Burns said Meese's legal troubles had infected the Justice Department with a "malaise." That had worsened the day before, when three more of Burns' aides quit, bringing to five the number of high-ranking Justice officials who have left since Burns and William Weld announced their resignations March 29. Weld, who had headed the criminal division, told Reagan what he had earlier told Meese: that he would indict the Attorney General if he were running the investigation. Meese's friend E. Robert Wallach had profited from his relationship with the Attorney General, Weld said, and it appeared that Wallach had made sure that Meese was rewarded for going along with his schemes.

The President asked no questions during the 30-minute meeting. Meese then gave Reagan his side of the story, presenting a rosier assessment, although John Shepherd, his nominee to replace Burns, had withdrawn his name just hours before. The St. Louis lawyer decided that the eight-month job would not be worth enduring more questions about his personal life in the confirmation process. Predicted a White House aide: "No Deputy Attorney General will ever be confirmed as long as Ed is there."

Washington's tolerance for Meese is fading. No Republican, particularly not George Bush, wants to head into the November elections while Meese sits in the Justice Department offering a fat target for Democratic attacks. Reagan, unmoved by the accounts of the resigned Justice officials, bellowed a loud no when asked last week whether Meese should resign. But not even Reagan may be able to stand by his pal when later this spring Independent Counsel James McKay issues what will be at best a highly critical report on Meese's unethical conduct.