THE LEDGER-STAR
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 2, 1994 TAG: 9411020646
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICHARD KEIL ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Long : 112 lines
In the final days of the campaign, opponents of Senate candidate Oliver North are pointing to newly released documents from his Iran-Contra criminal prosecution as evidence he cannot be trusted.
Among the previously secret material, now available at the National Archives, is a lengthy list of what prosecutors said were false or misleading statements made by North, each accompanied by documents and testimony from others tending to rebut North's claims.
Among the most important details gleaned from the once-secret FBI interviews with Iran-Contra figures, internal White House memorandums and North's own notes are these:
A set of documents stating that North lied to FBI agents about his Iran-Contra role in July 1986, less than four months before the scandal broke.
Evidence that North purposely misled President Reagan about whether a pair of wealthy conservatives had made donations to the Contras during a time when Congress had banned aid to the rebels.
It is unclear whether late disclosures on Iran-Contra will have any impact on North's challenge of Democratic Sen. Charles Robb, since North's criminal conviction and subsequent appeals court reversal are widely known. North has generally fended off Iran-Contra questions by stressing that the seven years independent counsel Lawrence Walsh spent investigating him ultimately led to nothing.
``There is obviously nothing to this,'' said North spokesman Dan McLagan. ``This is just some liberals trying to win in the press what they lost in the courtroom. This is just more garbage.''
``My general sense is that if you were an undecided voter, this ought to be a major influence on your thinking,'' said former Marine Maj. Gen. Fred Haynes, who once commanded North and is now opposing his candidacy. ``I have been appalled by his lack of judgment and the simple fact that he seems to have put himself above the law.''
Haynes, a spokesman for Veterans Against North, held a news conference on some of the Iran-Contra documents Tuesday.
North has come under attack from several former White House colleagues. And just last week, former first lady Nancy Reagan raised Iran-Contra anew, saying North ``has a great deal of trouble separating fact from fantasy.''
``He lied to my husband and lied about him,'' she added.
For Walsh, the issue of North's truthfulness is an old one.
``I'm glad this stuff is coming out, being released now. We always assumed North was a liar,'' Walsh said in a telephone interview from his home in Oklahoma City, Okla. ``It was always our hope that if Congress hadn't intervened, we could have gotten convictions to stick, because then maybe he would have told the truth. There are many cases of liars who ultimately tell the truth.''
While North has acknowledged playing a key role in helping supply the Contras with money and arms during a two-year ban imposed by Congress, he has always maintained that he acted with the backing of his superiors, including Reagan.
Although evidence suggested Reagan was aware of financial assistance being offered by other governments, North took pains to avoid telling the president that two individuals had made then-illegal cash contributions for the Contras.
In seeking thank-you notes from Reagan to conservative millionaire Barbara Newington and fund-raiser Carl Channell, ``North drafted a document for (former National Security Adviser Robert) McFarlane to send to Reagan which states only that Newington `believes strongly' in the president's goals and that Channell provided `paid television advertising' regarding the Congressional vote,'' according to a memo prepared for Walsh.
It goes on to say that North ``further advised the office of (White House) Counsel Fred Fielding that Newington and Channell `are not involved in raising private funds for the Contras.' ''
Key to the government's case was a Fielding memo approving the request for the thank-you notes, in which the White House counsel wrote that ``North has advised my office that the recipients are not involved in raising private funds for the Contras.''
According to the files, North even told Newington and Channel when he was scheduled to meet with them in October 1985 that ``he had been in and out of the Oval Office all day.''
``Another example of puffing,'' the prosecutor's note states. ``North's schedule for the day shows no meeting with the president. . . . The computerized list of Reagan-North meetings shows no contact between them on October 10.''
``These are excellent lies for refuting authorization by either the president or McFarlane'' on the private-funding issue, an investigators' memo prepared for former Walsh aide Jeffrey Toobin concludes. Toobin, now a journalist, was then one of Walsh's top aides.
By mid-1986, numerous questions had been raised about North's role both in assisting the Contras and working to free Americans being held hostage in the Middle East. But during a July 1986 interview with FBI agents conducting an investigation of press leaks at the National Security Council, where North worked, ``North . . . denied media allegations that Secord works for him and reiterated this point during the interview,''' the memo prepared for Toobin notes.
`Secord' refers to retired Air Force Gen. Richard Secord, who along with North oversaw the clandestine Contra resupply effort. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ABOVE: Republican Senate candidate Oliver North, center, campaigns
with Gov. George Allen, left, and former Gov. Mills Godwin at a
fund-raiser Tuesday in Richmond.
LEFT: Sen. Charles Robb answers questions in a Norfolk restaurant
and grocery store Tuesday, responding to North's allegations that he
has injected race into the campaign.
KEYWORDS: U.S. SENATE RACE VIRGINIA CANDIDATES
IRAN-CONTRA by CNB