Top Dems Say Mukasey Approval Likely

Oct 17, 06:25 AM

Current Headlines: By Tom Brune, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.

Oct. 17--WASHINGTON -- Retired New York federal judge Michael B. Mukasey is likely to win quick Senate approval as attorney general, two key Democrats said yesterday after meeting with him on the eve of his confirmation hearings.

Nominated by President George W. Bush to take over a Justice Department shaken by controversy over anti-terror tactics and charges of political interference, Mukasey will face tough questions in the hearings, which could continue through the week.

But in visits on Capitol Hill yesterday, he appeared to have assured two of Bush's harshest critics that he would be no "yes man" to the White House. That's a charge several senators leveled at the recently resigned attorney general, Alberto Gonzales.

"I see a man who has the potential to clean up the Department of Justice," Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Judiciary Committee chairman, said after meeting with Mukasey. "From what I've seen, I would expect him to be confirmed."

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who called for the resignation of Gonzales and suggested Mukasey as his replacement, said he believes the 66-year-old New Yorker has integrity and independence.

"I asked, 'Would you be willing to look the president in the eye and say 'no' if you thought what they wanted the Justice Department to do was either not legal or not ethical?'" Schumer said. "Without batting an eye, he said, 'Absolutely.'"

Mukasey also agreed to conduct his own review of the Office of Legal Counsel's memos on wiretapping, the National Security Agency, torture and detentions of terror suspects, Schumer said.

Mukasey appears to have won over senators during his visits, Schumer added. "If the hearings go as well as the interviews have, then he will be confirmed by a very large majority," he said.

"I don't know of a single Democrat who is inclined not to support him," Schumer said.

But there is one Democrat who will be noticeably missing from the opening of the native New Yorker's confirmation hearings: Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.).

It is customary for both senators to introduce a nominee from their home state for a major post, but Clinton will not join Schumer in that task today.

At Mukasey's request, his old friend Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) will fill in.

Clinton, her press aide said, has a "scheduling conflict" -- a 9:30 hearing on Superfund cleanups of toxic waste sites by the Senate subcommittee on Superfund and Environmental Health, which she chairs.

Clinton, the Democratic presidential front-runner, might have another conflict she does not want to mention: Mukasey is a longtime friend of Rudy Giuliani, the Republican front-runner.

Until his nomination, Mukasey served as an adviser to Giuliani's campaign and his son, Marc, who works for Giuliani's law firm, still does.

Tough questions expected today

Hopeful promises to review wiretap memos

Clinton to skip introductions

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