Reagan Should Fire Meese, Sen. Byrd Declares

WASHINGTON — Senate Democratic leader Robert C. Byrd said today that President Reagan should fire Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III on the grounds that the operation of the Justice Department is faltering because of his chronic legal problems.

Meese has rejected stepping down, and, after a visit to Capitol Hill Wednesday, apparently is ready to fight through “the last days” of Reagan’s term, despite harsher criticism within his own party.

Byrd (D-W.Va.) said that whatever the validity of the allegations against Meese, the Department of Justice is not operating efficiently “because he is spending an inordinate amount of his time dealing with his own personal problems.

“I think Mr. Meese ought to resign,” Byrd said at a news conference. “Somebody ought to tell this man, and it ought to be the President of the United States. The attorney general of the United States ought to be a full-time attorney general.”

Public Confidence

Byrd said the critical point is not whether Reagan has full confidence in Meese, but whether the public has full confidence in the proper operation of the office.

“The higher interest is the public interest,” Byrd said.

As he left the Justice Department on Wednesday to deliver a speech, Meese hinted that he fully expects to be attorney general until Reagan leaves office in January.

“We are going on the offensive,” he declared. “We have a very vigorous program in the Department of Justice. . . . The battle against drugs, continuing our efforts against obscenity and organized crime, what we’re doing to combat terrorism, all of these things are going to be vigorously pursued right down to the last days of this Administration.”