Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 16, 1993 TAG: 9301160301
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BY PHYLLIS JORDAN LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
ROBB LASHES OUT AT PROSECUTOR
U.S. Sen. Charles Robb leveled harsh criticism Friday at the "unsupervised, paranoid prosecutor" who failed to indict him but still managed to air his charges in a related indictment."That was about the most graceless thing I've ever seen a professional do," Robb said in an interview. "What the prosecutor did was put in [the indictment] all of what he wanted the grand jury to find against Chuck Robb. He gratuitously put in something which had nothing to do with the evidence against this other individual. It seemed to be so transparent."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Weichering failed to win an indictment against Robb after 19 months of a grand jury investigation.
But in his indictment against Robb associate Bruce Thompson, Weichering asserted that Robb had considerable knowledge of his staff's handling of an illegal tape.
He charged that Robb knew about the tape, but purposely did not listen to it to give himself "plausible deniability." He also charged that Robb authorized his press secretary to issue a false statement.
Robb denied those charges Friday, saying, "Everything that I have said under oath, in news conferences, I stand by."
He said any discrepancies resulted from "differences in recollections" between him and three staff members charged in the case.
He said he did not blame the staff members but believed the prosecutor had exploited the situation.