From: Wolf Blitzer/CNN
In: Washington
Posted 12-1-97

Subject: White House-Freeh Relations Worsen

Relations between the White House and FBI Director Louis Freeh are quickly going from bad to worse.

Senior officials tell CNN that they, and President Bill Clinton, in recent months have lost a great deal of confidence in Freeh, who was appointed by Clinton in 1993.

Says one official: "He's a great disappointment."

Freeh's highly publiclized difference of opinion with Attorney General Janet Reno over the issue of seeking an independent counsel to investigate the president's and vice president's fund-raising activities has certainly influenced the way the White House views Freeh.

But officials say their disappointment with Freeh goes beyond that issue. They accuse him of being a failure in reforming the FBI, including modernizing its controversial crime lab.

And they go further in charging that he has engaged in "self-protective attacks" to ingratiate himself with Republicans.

"He's terrified of the Republicans," says one official.

Freeh's highly unusual decision to put in writing his disagreement with career Justice Department lawyers on the need for an independent counsel will merely make that strained relationship with the White House even worse.

Reacting to a CNN report that Freeh has circulated that memo, the White House is saying only that Reno's decision should be based on the facts, and not pressure or politics from any source.

Both Clinton and his press secretary, Mike McCurry, said today they did not know what Reno had decided, nor when she would make her announcement.

So far, there's no indication that Freeh is considering resigning as a result of his continuing dispute with Reno, and indirectly with the White House.

In Other News:

Monday Dec. 1, 1997

• Reno's Independent Counsel Decision Expected Tuesday
• Report: Defense Readiness Depends On Quick Reforms
• Former Espy Aide Convicted Of Lying

E-Mail From Washington:
• White House-Freeh Relations Worsen
• Cohen Blames Hussein For Infant Deaths
• Gore To Attend Global Warming Conference
• U.S. Pressures Israel On Settlements