
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 25, 1993                   TAG: 9305250275
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

WHITE HOUSE ADMITS PROBE RULE BROKEN

Clinton administration officials, fielding a complaint from Attorney General Janet Reno, acknowledged Monday that the White House violated its own rules governing contacts with the Justice Department when it asked the FBI to look into alleged mismanagement at the White House travel office.

The rules are intended to prevent misuse of the agency for political purposes. Reno considered the breach serious enough that she called White House counsel Bernard Nussbaum on Monday to "express concern," officials said.

The contact occurred May 13, when White House Associate Counsel William Kennedy called an FBI unit supervisor, James Bourke, to ask the FBI to look into the travel operation.

Under the administration's own rules, contacts between the White House and Justice Department employees are to take place only between the White House counsel's office and one of the top three Justice officials. The FBI is an arm of the Justice Department.

The purpose of the rule is to prevent White House aides from trying to influence the department.

by CNB