tflan@ap-wash.AP.COM (Thomas Flanagan) (04/02/88)
^URGENT< ^By THOMAS FLANAGAN< ^Associated Press Writer< WASHINGTON (AP) _ A series of dramatic events in the White House today may precipitate abrupt changes in the executive branch of the federal government. Attorney General Edwin Meese is in custody of federal marshals, accused of shooting President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George Bush. Both the President and the Vice President are expected to survive. White House sources, speaking on the condition that they not be identified, revealed that Reagan met in the Oval Office this morning with Bush and White House Chief of Staff Howard Baker to discuss staffing changes within the Justice Department. Sources indicated that both Bush and Baker attempted to persuade Reagan to ask for Meese's resignation amid continued investigations of the Attorney General's conduct. When Meese joined the meeting, apparently for that very purpose, he allegedly responded with gunfire. The meeting _ which began at 10:45 a.m., shortly after Reagan awoke this morning _ broke up immediately as Secret Service agents entered the office and disarmed the alleged assailant. After giving a statement to federal marshals, Baker met with reporters to give an eyewitness account of the shooting. ``Ed started by going after George, who grabbed the President to use as a shield. One shot was fired, which went straight through the President's head and nicked George's ear, as he was right behind the President. Ron just seemed sort of dazed and said, `Ed, aren't we still friends?' Then he collapsed. At that point the Treasury agents wrestled Ed to the floor.'' Asked for a probable motive to the shooting, Baker responded, ``Well, Ed was very upset. I think he also may have stopped by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms on the way to the White House and helped himself to a bottle of whiskey and a revolver _ he seemed to be acting more erratically than usual and may have been intoxicated.'' President Reagan was said to be resting comfortably at Walter Reed hospital following the incident. Hospital staffers indicated that even though the bullet passed entirely through the frontal and temporal lobes of his brain, there were ``no living brain cells'' in its path. The President is expected to make a full recovery. The prognosis for Vice President Bush is not so positive. Although hospitalized only for the scratch on his left ear, some bruises and a concussion he received when he apparently fainted in the Oval Office, hospital psychiatrists indicated that the Vice President has suffered severe emotional distress and has not even been able to give an account of this morning's events. An unidentified Secret Service agent guarding the Vice President claimed, ``The only word he's spoken since leaving the White House is `Mommy'.'' Hospital psychiatrists refused to confirm this detail. When asked for further comment, examining physician Lt. Commander Dr. Leonard H. McCoy refused, saying only, ``I'm a doctor, not a reporter.'' Also in the psychiatric ward at Walter Reed is the Attorney General, under heavy military guard. Waiving his rights to remain silent or contact an attorney, Meese talked with reporters from within his cell. ``That Miranda stuff is such a crock,'' he said. ``If I had my way, nobody who was arrested would have any rights, especially not women or minorities. They're all a bunch of preverts and I've had it with their preversions. Don't you understand, they're contaminating our purity of essence!'' The commander of the military guard detail, Marine Captain James T. Kirk, commented about Meese, ``If you ask me, he's fruity as a nutcake.'' Before Kirk could comment further, Meese launched into a surprisingly entertaining rendition of ``The Impossible Dream.'' First Lady Nancy Reagan said of the incident, ``I warned Ed many times about the dangers of drugs, but he just never listened. Now look what's happened. When Ron asked him to resign, why couldn't he just say yes?'' White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater accompanied the President in the ambulance to the hospital. Fitzwater reported that Reagan ``was as lucid as he always is. It's as if being shot in the brain made no difference in his mental capabilities.'' Reagan was specifically quoted as saying to Fitzwater, ``I have full confidence in my friend of twenty years, Ed Meese. He has my complete trust.'' Fitzwater went on to explain that Reagan remains in charge of the Executive branch, possessing ``the very same level of alertness'' as before the shooting. Senator Strom Thurmond (S.C.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, stated that he and other committee members expect to receive a nomination to replace Meese as Attorney General within the next two weeks. Thurmond said, ``I hope the President picks someone like Arizona Governor Evan Mecham. He exhibits the same ethical standards we've come to expect from the U.S. Attorney General.'' AP-NR-04-01 1133EST<