Inept or Corrupt?

NINE months ago, relations between Capitol Hill Republicans and Janet Reno were at an all-time low. The attorney general had roundly rejected the advice of top investigator Charles La Bella that she seek an independent counsel in the campaign-finance scandal. Before that, she had ignored the same recommendation from FBI director Louis Freeh. For a while, Reno refused even to let lawmakers see a heavily redacted version of La Bella’s analysis of the case, which led to a serious but unsuccessful attempt to hold her in contempt of Congress. It was hard to imagine relations between the Hill and Reno getting any worse.

Until now. News of the Justice Department’s failure to act in the Chinese spy case has led to new calls for Reno’s head. Less publicized—but equally galling to some Republicans—is the department’s decision to make lenient plea-bargain deals with John Huang and Charlie Trie, perhaps the two most important figures in the campaign-finance case. Taken together, the latest developments have Reno’s critics asking a simple, if harsh, question: Is she corrupt, incompetent, or some combination of both?

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Byron York

Byron York is a former White House correspondent for National Review.

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NINE months ago, relations between Capitol Hill Republicans and Janet Reno were at an all-time low. The attorney general had roundly rejected the advice of top investigator Charles La Bella that she seek an independent counsel in the campaign-finance scandal. Before that, she had ignored the same recommendation from FBI director Louis Freeh. For a while, Reno refused even to let lawmakers see a heavily redacted version of La Bella’s analysis of the case, which led to a serious but unsuccessful attempt to hold her in contempt of Congress. It was hard to imagine relations between the Hill and Reno getting any worse.

Until now. News of the Justice Department’s failure to act in the Chinese spy case has led to new calls for Reno’s head. Less publicized—but equally galling to some Republicans—is the department’s decision to make lenient plea-bargain deals with John Huang and Charlie Trie, perhaps the two most important figures in the campaign-finance case. Taken together, the latest developments have Reno’s critics asking a simple, if harsh, question: Is she corrupt, incompetent, or some combination of both?