The Nation - News from July 22, 1988

A federal prosecutor in the Wedtech corruption trial stunned the courtroom when he called Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III--his ultimate boss--”a sleaze.” Assistant U.S. Atty. Edward J. Little then told jurors that that was no excuse for the conduct of Rep. Mario Biaggi (D-N. Y.) and six others charged with racketeering. The surprise remark was made near the end of Little’s day-and-a-half summation to the jury. A cornerstone of the defense has been that corrupt Wedtech executives who testified for the government had links to White House insiders like Meese and did not need to bribe Biaggi. Little said the answer to “this Meese defense” was “Meese was a sleaze, too, also, in addition to these people.”