Part Of Freeh’s Memo To Be Shared Document Advised Reno To Appoint Independent Counsel For White House Fund Raising

After several days of negotiation, the FBI agreed Wednesday to share with Congress some contents of a confidential memo in which FBI Director Louis Freeh urged an independent investigation of White House fund raising.

But there is a dispute about what exactly the FBI has agreed to do.

A spokesman for Rep. Dan Burton’s Government Reform and Oversight Committee said the FBI agreed to “read aloud and verbatim” edited portions of Freeh’s memo to Attorney General Janet Reno.

Reno overrode Freeh’s advice and refused to recommend appointment of an independent counsel to investigate fund-raising telephone calls made last year by President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore.

Freeh’s memo would be read to Burton, an Indiana Republican, and Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the top Democrat on the committee, Burton’s spokesman said.

But the FBI says that isn’t the deal. The bureau says it will provide the congressmen only with a verbal briefing.

“They will be provided with a briefing,” said FBI spokesman Bill Carter. “We aren’t going to read the memo to them.”

Wednesday night each side was holding to its version of the deal, and it was unclear how the varying interpretations would be worked out.

Burton’s committee had subpoenaed the document last week, but Reno and Freeh refused to comply, saying turning over the memo could compromise a continuing criminal fund-raising investigation and could give potential suspects “a road map” of what the Justice Department was up to.

Last week, Freeh and Reno told members of Congress they would agree to talk about turning over at least parts of the Freeh memo, helping to diffuse a conflict with the committee’s Republican majority.

Will Dwyer, Burton’s spokesman, said an agreement was reached between the committee’s counsel, Dick Bennett, and lawyers for the FBI and the Justice Department. He said the “reading” would occur in January.