U.S. ATTORNEY CLEARED IN RELEASE OF MONEY LAUNDERER

But Schneider's remarks about agent are criticized

Justice Department ethics lawyers have found no misconduct by U.S. Attorney
Thomas P. Schneider and his top deputy after a yearlong probe of
allegations that the two bent rules to help a car dealer convicted of
laundering drug money get out of prison early.

However, the ethics lawyers also found that Schneider made "inappropriate"
remarks to law enforcement officials about IRS agent Neil Saari, whose
complaint about the early release of Harry Kaufmann sparked the Justice
Department probe.

In a letter sent to Saari and Schneider, the Justice Department said it had
taken "appropriate action" as a result of Schneider's remarks, but did not
specify what those remarks were or what action had been taken.

Schneider said Tuesday that the Justice Department's finding of no
misconduct by him or his top deputy, Barbara Berman, vindicated his
predictions over the past year that the investigation would find nothing
improper in his help getting the politically connected Kaufmann out of
prison 17 months early.

"I have said from day one that this case was handled honestly and there was
no misconduct," Schneider said. "In this case, justice ran a very slow
course, and of course I wish it would have been resolved much quicker.
Department of Justice policy did not allow me to comment during the
investigation except to deny the allegations, which have now been
established as false."

However, Schneider refused to discuss the finding by Justice Department
ethics lawyers that he "made inappropriate remarks about (Saari) to other
law enforcement officials" and that the department "has taken appropriate
action to address this matter." Schneider also said he would not be
releasing further details about the investigation results.

"That's totally and completely up to them (Department of Justice),"
Schneider said Tuesday.

Not so, said Justice Department spokesman John Russell.

Schneider, as the subject of the investigation, could make public any
action taken against him and could release any details of the investigation
he wanted, Russell stressed. And he could give the Justice Department
permission to release all the details if he wanted to.

Without his consent, the department is limited in what it can make public.
However, Russell said Justice Department lawyers are considering whether to
make public a summary of the investigation without Schneider's consent -- a
disclosure allowed in cases involving a strong public interest in the
outcome of investigations.

Saari, an IRS criminal investigator for more than 25 years, alleged last
year that once he filed the formal complaint against Schneider, Schneider
retaliated by, among other things, threatening to take the stand at a big
drug trial at which Saari was a key prosecution witness to call him a liar.

Only last week, a former federal prosecutor, Rodney Cubbie, confirmed that
Schneider threatened to testify against Saari at the trial of major
Milwaukee drug lord Jerry Walker unless Saari withdrew his ethics complaint
against him.

Schneider has vehemently denied the accusation.

Both Saari and Cubbie declined comment Tuesday on the ethics letter.

Schneider has said his office recommended an early release for Kaufmann
because of the Mequon man's help in exposing a prison scam in which many
inmates received credit for drug education classes they did not attend.

Under guidelines for recommending early release for inmates who cooperate
in federal investigations and prosecutions, U.S. attorneys and their staffs
have broad latitude in who gets out of prison early.

A Journal Sentinel review last year of once-secret court records in the
Kaufmann case found that Schneider and Berman bypassed senior prosecutors
in the U.S. attorney's office who opposed Kaufmann's early release, and
then kept the release secret from the federal agents and prosecutors who
investigated Kaufmann.

The newspaper review also found that the release came after extensive
lobbying by Kaufmann's lawyers and politically connected friends, and that
the judge who approved Schneider's request to release Kaufmann 17 months
early wondered afterward whether he had been "hoodwinked."

Schneider, who was appointed as U.S. attorney by President Clinton in 1993,
said in a written statement Tuesday that one of the hazards of public
service is that "people regularly make a wide range of false accusations"
that should not be confused with the truth.

"As a public servant for over 25 years, I have reviewed thousands of cases,
and every day as U.S. attorney I review recommendations and make decisions
in case after case," Schneider said in the statement. "I am human like
everyone else, but in every case I work my heart out to do my best to serve
the public interest and to find justice in each and every case."

Berman on Tuesday also lauded the Justice Department finding. She said she
had been privileged to serve the public for 22 years and looked forward to
more good years of public service.

Schneider still faces allegations that a leak in his office last year
almost jeopardized arrests in a major investigation into the Outlaws
motorcycle gang.