LOS ANGELES -- Hustler magazine publisher Larry Flynt retracted a statement by his office Wednesday that he had the Vicki Morgan videotapes that an attorney claims show government officials in sex acts.
'I do not have the tapes,' Flynt said arriving at his Century City office. 'I'm still negotiating.' Only two hours earlier, Marsha Rider, executive assistant to the publisher, said Flynt was preparing a formal statement on the tapes and it would be released at his office shortly.
Asked if Flynt would provide physical evidence of the tapes, Mrs. Rider said only, 'If he says he has them (the tapes), I'm sure he does.'
Richard David, a press consultant to Hustler, said he was meeting with Flynt to draft the statement, which he said would name the government officials attorney Robert K. Steinberg claimed were shown in the tapes.
'He also plans to make still photos of the tape and he plans to publish them in the magazine,' David said.
Steinberg, who has come under increasing criticism since announcing Tuesday the alleged tapes were stolen from his office, was in seclusion Wednesday, refusing to speak to reporters.
But a friend, who spoke to Steinberg after Flynt's announcement, said the lawyer was 'very relieved.'
'He wants to see what Flynt says,' said the friend. 'He's at his home and all his friends are telling him not to make any further comments to the media.'
Mrs. Rider said she was not certain which issue of the sexually explicit magazine would contain the alleged photographs from the videotapes. She ruled out the August edition, which goes on sale Friday.
Attorney Robert K. Steinberg was subpoenaed Tuesday and ordered to produce the alleged tapes in court July 25 -- the same day Marvin Pancoast, 33, the confessed killer of Miss Morgan, 30, is to be arraigned on murder charges.
Steinberg, who briefly counseled Pancoast, told investigators the three tapes -- which he said show people engaged in 'sado-masochistic sex acts' -- were kept in a gym bag in the library of his law office.
'Someone from the press corps went into my library this morning and stole the tapes,' a highly agitated Steinberg told reporters as he left his Beverly Hills office Tuesday afternoon.
But police said Steinberg, a registered Democrat who has been associated with some of the nation's most prominent attorneys, made no mention of his suspicions during a lengthy talk with investigators.
It was one of several contradictions that surfaced Tuesday, a day after Steinberg, 46, first claimed the tapes exEsted.
Steinberg, worked for Melvin Belli, the 'King of Torts' for 10 years until 1975 and shares his office with Vincent Bugliosi, the former Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney who prosecuted Charles Manson.
In 1969, Steinberg ran for mayor of Los Angeles, receiving only 1,615 of the 713,844 votes cast in the April primary. He later campaigned for Mayor Sam Yorty in his successful re-election campaign against Tom Bradley.
Steinberg told reporters the tapes show sex acts involving the late Alfred Bloomingdale, a close friend of President Reagan, Miss Morgan, Bloomingdale's mistress, an unnamed congressman and four top Reagan administration appointees.
In a telephone conversation, White House counsel Fred Fielding told Steinberg the tapes -- if found -- should not be destroyed so it can be determined if any criminal conduct was involved.
Ducking in and out of his office Tuesday, Steinberg gave reporters varying accounts of where the tapes were, when they were stolen, if he knew who might have stolen them and how authorities were handling the case. When pressed, the attorney refused further comment, referring matters to the police and the district attorney's office.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Jim Bascue said Steinberg informed his office Tuesday morning of the alleged theft after prosecutors requested he turn over the tapes.
Police Cmdr. William Booth said Steinberg was subpoenaed because of his claims the tapes exEst, and the fact they may be relevant to the investigation of Miss Morgan's slaying last Thursday.
'If such tapes do exEst we feel a need to view them,' Booth said.
'Questions have been raised about the involvement of federal appointees and federal officials in this thing and we were asked for reaction to it,' Deputy press secretary Larry Speakes told reporters at the White House. 'And the reaction is we don't want any of it destroyed.'
After Steinberg recounted his conversation with Fielding, police arrived at his office to take a theft report and ordered reporters to leave.
Steinberg said he had received the tapes from a woman claiming to be a friend of Pancoast after he was asked to provide legal counsel to the defendant. Steinberg said he quit the case in a dispute over use of the tapes.
Pancoast's attorney, Arthur Barens, said he will eventually enter a plea of innocent by reason of insanity on behalf of Pancoast, who remained jailed in lieu of $250,000 bail.
Miss Morgan had been a model before she became the mistress of Bloomingdale, heir to a department store fortune, founder of the Diners Club and a member of President Reagan's 'kitchen cabinet.' He died of cancer last August at age 66.
Miss Morgan filed an unsuccessful $11 million palimony suit against Bloomingdale last year. Claims against his estate based on alleged written contracts are still pending in court.
