LEAHY IS OPPOSED TO IMMUNITY FOR POINDEXTER, NORTH

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000706700002-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 21, 2012
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: December 15, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/21 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000706700002-3
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WASHINGTON TIMES
15 December 1986
Leahy is op
posed
to immunity for
Porn de
xter North
Capitol Hill abo t h
u
By Marv Belcher
and Damon Thompson
'+E 4ASHING-3N MES
The vice chairman of the Senate
Intelligence Committee yesterday
warned against granting immunity
to Lt. Col. Oliver North and Vice
Adm. John Poindexter in return for
their testimony on the Iran-Contra
affair.
If people have broken the law ...
they ought to be prosecuted, they
ought to be convicted, they ought to' go to fail:' Sen. Patrick Leahy, Ver-
mont Democrat, said on ABC-TV's
This Week."
Sen. David Durenberger chair-
man of the intelligence panel, said
Col. North and Adm. Poindexter
need not fear criminal prosecution.
"When I look at the facts. I've
come to the conclusion that we have
all exaggerated the personal liabil-
ity of both these fellows:"Mr. Duren-
berger said on the same program.
"Taking the Fifth Amendment
continues to exaggerate it. I don't
think either of these fellows has any -
thing to fear from the facts."
The Minnesota Republican
warned that investigations of the di-
version of secret Iranian arms sales
money to the Nicaraguan resistance
could drag on indefinite!
.:.care two pel"p!t2 :r..Amc:-;ca
oho can solve this prnhlem r day
John Poindexter and Oliver North."
.,aid Mr. Durenherger.
Adm. Poindexter resigned as na-
tional security adviser and Mr.
North was fired from the National
Security Council staff when At-
torney General Edwin Meese III dis-
closed on Nov. 25 that 510 million to
S30 million from secret U.S. arms
sales to Iran had been diverted to the
resistance forces fighting Nic-
aragua's Marxist Sandinista regime.
Mr Meese said Col. North was the
only administration official with
"precise" knowledge of the Iran-
Contra connection, and Adm. Poin-
dexter had general knowledge of it.
Despite President Reagan's prom-
ise of full White House cooperation
with congressional probes, both
Adm. Poindexter and Col. North
have refused to answer questions on
t e episode, invok-
ing their Fifth Amendment protec.
tion against self-incrimination.
The Senate Intelligence Commit-
tee will meet this evening to decide
how much further to carry its
behind-closed-doors investigation of
the transactions.
In an interview vest
erday with C'
ble iews Network
Mr Dure_
ger said CIA Director WilliaCasey_
is scheduled_ to testify tomorrow.
"We expect to call (Secretary of
State) George Shultz, (Secretary of
Defense I Cap Weinberger, Ed Meese
and l White House Chief' of Staffl
Don Regan during the course of the
week...
On ABC earlier, Mr. Leahy said:
"The president's saying he won't in-
voke executive privilege and he
wanted to totally cooperate," Mr.
Leahy said. "Well, then, let Donald
Regan come up and totally cooper-
ate."
The Justice Department ac-
knowledged Friday that the Senate
committee has notified Mr. Meese
that he will be called to testify this
week.
Patrick Korten, a department
spokesman, said yesterday that Mr.
Meese might seek to work out some
"scheduling difficulties," but the at-
torney general would appear before
the committee, "as long as suitable
arrangements can he worked out."
Intelligence panel members have
expressed growing impatience with
recent administration witnesses
who have declined to testify. T,vo
staff members of the National Secu-
rity Council on Friday declined to
testify before the committee. raising
to six the number of witnesses who
have done so thus far.
A federal court is expected this
week to appoint an independent
counsel to investigate possible
criminal wrongdoing by administra-
tion officials, and special House and
Senate committees will begin probes
of the Iran-Contra scandal next
month.
Lawrence E. Walsh, a 74-year-old
lawyer who was a negotiator at the
Vietnam peace talks in Paris in 1969
and was president of the American
Bar Association in 1975.76, is ex-
pected to be selected for the job.
The Iran-Contra affair has
plunged Mr. Reagan into the sternest
crisis of his presidency, with some.
mostly Democrats, rushing to draw
parallels to the Watergate scandal
that led to former President Nixon s
resignation.
Former Nixon aide John Ehrlich-
man yesterday said Mr. Reagan's
"not being willing to step out and
take decisive action" reminds him of
Mr. Nixon's inaction on Watergate in
1973.
Mr. Ehrlichman, appearing on
ABC-TV, said Col. North and Adm.
Poindexter should divulge all the
facts to the president in the Oval Of-
fice.
"He's the commander in chief -
come to him," Mr. Ehrlichman said.
"And the battle flags would be in
the background, and the Great Seal
of the President of the United States
on the rug, and he'd say, 'Gentlemen,
for the good of the country, you've
got to tell me what's happened here.
and stand there in a brace, in a mili-
tary manner, give me the word and
leave your lawyers outside."'
After that, Mr. Ehrlichman, who
has become a novelist, said, the pres-
ident should tell them, "Get out of
my way, I'm headed for the press
room," to deliver the "unvarnished"
truth to the media.
House and Senate leaders have
agreed to form separate Watergate-
style select committees to investi-
gate the Iran-Contra scandal once
the 100th Congress convenes on Jan.
6.
Today, Senate leaders are ex-
pected to announce their ap-
pointments to their committee,
which will consist of six Democrats
and five Republicans. House leaders
have said they also may name their
appointments early this week to
their 15-person panel - nine Demo-
crats. six Republicans.
Mr. Durenberger said he would
also seek to "decide the scope"of the
Watergate-style committee at this
evening's meeting of the intelligence
panel.
"I don't think that if (Senate Re-
publican leader) Bob Dole and (Sen-
ate Democratic leader) Bob Byrd
have the facts we have today, if they
had had those facts in this national
hysteria a couple of weeks ago. I
don't think there'd be a special com-
mittee," he said.
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/21 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000706700002-3