Iran Contra: Episode 8 - Pardon Me

Summary

Fiasco: Iran-Contra – Episode 8: Pardon Me

In the season finale of Pushkin Industries' "Fiasco" series, titled "Pardon Me," host Leon Neyfakh delves into the intricate aftermath of the Iran-Contra scandal, focusing particularly on the actions of Vice President George H.W. Bush and the controversial pardons issued by President Bush following his election loss in 1992. This episode meticulously unpacks the political maneuvers, legal battles, and moral quandaries that defined one of the most tumultuous periods in recent American political history.

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1. The Unraveling of George H.W. Bush’s Involvement

George H.W. Bush’s Diary: The episode begins by illuminating a crucial piece of evidence in the Iran-Contra saga: the contemporaneous diary kept by then-Vice President George H.W. Bush. Starting on November 4, 1986, Bush vowed to maintain an accurate record of his observations, intending to devote five to fifteen minutes daily to this task ([02:27]).

Contradictory Statements: Initially, Bush maintained that he was oblivious to the full details of the Iran-Contra operations, specifically the arms-for-hostages deal and the diversion of funds to the Contras. In his second diary entry, Bush acknowledged selective knowledge, stating, “…one of the few people that know fully the details” ([02:32]). However, this stance began to falter as evidence emerged suggesting his deeper involvement.

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2. Media Scrutiny and the CBS Evening News Interview

CBS’s Critical Report: As Bush prepared for the 1988 Republican primary, CBS Evening News, led by Dan Rather, aired a segment that questioned Bush's prior statements about his knowledge of Iran-Contra, revealing that he had attended over fifteen meetings where arms sales were discussed ([04:12]). This report included memos that contradicted Bush's public declarations, suggesting his awareness of the Contra resupply operation ([04:42]).

Bush’s Heated Response: The episode details a pivotal moment when Bush sat for a live interview post-report. Confronted by allegations of deceit, Bush vehemently denied intentional misinformation, exclaiming, “I don't want to be argumentative. Mr. Vice President. A whole career. It's not fair to judge my whole career by a rehash on Iran” ([05:11]). This confrontation left public opinion divided, with nearly a third of Republicans beginning to suspect Bush was concealing truths about his involvement ([05:45]).

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3. The Independent Counsel’s Investigation and Caspar Weinberger’s Indictment

Walsh’s Probe: Lawrence Walsh, the Independent Counsel, spearheaded an extensive investigation into Iran-Contra, focusing on high-ranking officials who may have obstructed justice. A significant breakthrough occurred when Weinberger's meticulous notes, stored in the Library of Congress, were discovered. These notes revealed internal debates and contradicted Weinberger's earlier claims of minimal involvement ([17:04]).

Indictment and Political Fallout: In June 1992, Weinberger was indicted on charges of withholding crucial notes and making false statements, signaling the Independent Counsel’s intent to hold top Reagan administration officials accountable ([22:10]). The indictment intensified political tensions, especially as the 1992 presidential election loomed. Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole, accused Walsh of pursuing a politically motivated "witch hunt" meant to damage Reagan and Bush's legacies ([23:14]).

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4. The 1992 Presidential Campaign and the “VP Favored” Memo

Memo Revelations: The investigation took a dramatic turn when a memo documenting a 1987 phone call between Weinberger and Secretary of State George Shultz surfaced. The memo suggested that Bush had actively supported the Iran arms-for-hostages deal, directly contradicting his previous denials ([24:30]). This revelation was swiftly weaponized in the presidential campaign, with Democratic contender Bill Clinton and his running mate Al Gore leveraging the memo to question Bush’s credibility.

Bush’s Public Defense: Confronted on national platforms, including an intense appearance on Larry King Live, Bush initially attempted to deflect the allegations, asserting that the memoir was politically motivated. However, mounting evidence forced him to partially concede his prior claims, admitting, “I knew about the arms going and I supported the President” ([26:51]). Despite this, Bush struggled to regain public trust, culminating in his loss to Clinton in the November 1992 elections ([32:06]).

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5. Pardons and the Final Curtain on Iran-Contra

Christmas Eve Pardons: In a controversial move shortly after his electoral defeat, President George H.W. Bush issued six pardons related to the Iran-Contra affair on Christmas Eve, including that of Caspar Weinberger. These pardons were seen by many as an attempt to "close the loop" on the scandal and protect his administration's legacy ([40:32]). Bush described the pardons as “an act of healing,” framing them as necessary to move the nation forward.

Lawrence Walsh’s Response: Walsh vehemently criticized the pardons, arguing they undermined the principle that no one is above the law. He highlighted the inconsiderate nature of the pardons, emphasizing that they prevented full disclosure and accountability. Walsh noted, “He is pardoning a person who committed the same type of misconduct that he did” ([41:38]).

Implications for Legal Accountability: The episode underscores the precarious balance between executive clemency and judicial accountability. By pardoning Weinberger and others, Bush effectively halted further legal proceedings, leaving many questions about the extent of his knowledge and involvement unanswered. This action raised significant concerns about the misuse of pardon powers to shield oneself and close investigations prematurely.

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6. Legacy and Aftermath of Iran-Contra

Walsh’s Final Report: In January 1994, after seven years of investigation, Lawrence Walsh released a comprehensive 1,200-page report. He concluded that while President Reagan did not commit any crimes, his administration set the stage for the illegal activities by encouraging support for the Contras. Similarly, Bush was found not to have committed any crimes, with his diaries revealing minimal new information ([44:50]).

Enduring Controversy: Despite the official conclusions, the Iran-Contra affair left an indelible mark on American politics, shaping public distrust in government operations and highlighting the complexities of clandestine foreign policy initiatives. The episode closes by reflecting on the broader implications of political scandals and the enduring quest for transparency and accountability in governance.

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Notable Quotes:

• George H.W. Bush: “This is the beginning of what I hope will be an accurate diary.” ([02:27])

• Expert/Analyst: “I don’t want to be argumentative. Mr. Vice President. A whole career. It's not fair to judge my whole career by a rehash on Iran.” ([05:11])

• Bob Dole: “They should have been closed up two or three years ago. If Congress spent $50 million in this kind of chicanery, the liberal media around this town would be investigating.” ([24:07])

• President Bush on Pardons: “He is pardoning a person who committed the same type of misconduct that he did.” ([41:44])

• Lawrence Walsh: “I think President Bush will always have to answer for his pardon. I think that was the most unjustifiable act.” ([41:44])

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Conclusion

Episode 8 of "Fiasco: Iran-Contra," "Pardon Me," masterfully navigates the labyrinthine corridors of political scandal, legal intrigue, and personal accountability. Through a detailed examination of George H.W. Bush's actions, the Independent Counsel's relentless pursuit, and the contentious use of presidential pardons, Leon Neyfakh provides listeners with a comprehensive understanding of how the Iran-Contra affair reverberated through American politics. The episode serves as a poignant reminder of the delicate interplay between power, legality, and morality in shaping historical legacies.

Transcript

[Podcast Host]

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[Expert/Analyst]

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To learn more about the world you live in, just subscribe to Everything Everywhere Daily. Wherever you cast your pod. Pushkin In a political scandal, the gold standard for evidence has always been tapes. Tapes were decisive in Watergate.

[Expert/Analyst]

We must not have any question on this. You know, I'm in charge of this thing. You are, and I am good about everything else.

[Narrator]

They were decisive in the Clinton impeachment. Put it in a baggie, you put.

[Expert/Analyst]

It in a Ziploc bag and you.

[Narrator]

Pack it in with your treasures.

[Expert/Analyst]

What for, though?

[Podcast Host]

I don't know, Monica.

[Expert/Analyst]

It's just this nagging, awful feeling I have in the back of my head.

[Narrator]

In Iran Contra, there were no tapes, at least none that the public ever got to hear. But there was something almost as good. Notes. Specifically, contemporaneous notes. Memos, minutes, calendars, diaries. Things that people wrote down while events were unfolding before they had a chance to contort or revise their accounts of what happened. George H.W. bush started keeping a diary on November 4, 1986. He was still the vice president then, but he was already thinking about the future. In his first entry, Bush wrote, this is the beginning of what I hope will be an accurate diary. He vowed to spend between five and 15 minutes a day recording observations about his run for the presidency in 1988. In his second diary entry, Bush addressed a news story that had just found its way into the American media after first appearing in a Lebanese magazine called Al Shirou. Despite repeated rhetoric from the White House that this country would not deal with.

[Expert/Analyst]

Terrorists or terrorist states, that seems to be precisely what happened with $60 million.

[Narrator]

In his diary, Bush referred to the question of the hostages. He described himself as, quote, one of the few people that know fully the details. There's a lot of flak and misinformation out there, bush noted. It is not a subject we can talk about.

[Expert/Analyst]

Through all of this, there has been considerable speculation about the role of Vice President Bush. Where was he on the Iran affair?

[Narrator]

Bush's public stance in the immediate aftermath of Iran Contra was that he had been out of the loop. He didn't know that the Iran weapons sales were part of a straight armed for hostages deal. He didn't know about the secret program to aid the Contras and he definitely didn't know about the diversion of profits from one operation to the other.

[Expert/Analyst]

I was aware of our Iran initiative and I support the President's decision. And I was not aware of and I oppose any diversion of funds, any ransom payments or any circumvention.

[Narrator]

By the spring of 1987, Bush was preparing to compete in the Republican primary. He ran as a heavy favorite against televangelist Pat Robertson and Kansas Senator Bob Dole.

[Expert/Analyst]

Well, what do you think about 88?

[Narrator]

You got your mind made up or.

[Expert/Analyst]

Is it still open? No, it's still open. It is those open minds and even some minds that are already made up that the six Republican presidential candidates all hope to influence over the next three months. A major issue emerging in the Republican presidential campaign is how much Vice President George Bush knew about the Iran Contra affair. CBS News has spent more than a month preparing tonight's report on the Vice President and the Iran Contra affair.

[Narrator]

On the eve of the Iowa caucuses in early 1988, CBS Evening News aired a five minute segment highlighting evidence that undermined Bush's statements on Iran Contra.

[Expert/Analyst]

Questions remain about Vice President Bush's role in the Iran arms sale.

[Narrator]

Dan Rather pointed to paperwork that indicated Bush had sat in on multiple meetings about the Iran weapons initiative.

[Expert/Analyst]

Mr. Bush attended more than 15 meetings in the Oval Office at which the arms sales were discussed.

[Narrator]

He also quoted from notes and memos that suggested Bush knew about the Contra resupply operation.

[Expert/Analyst]

The Vice President's office says he and his aides were never involved in directing, coordinating or approving military aid to the Contras. But the record is riddled with inconsistencies.

[Narrator]

Bush had agreed ahead of time to sit for a live interview directly after the segment aired. What followed was a heated exchange with Bush claiming that CBS News had set him up by telling him the segment would be a political profile and rather trying to pin the Vice President down on what exactly he had known about Iran Contra.

[Expert/Analyst]

You said if you had known this was an arms for hostages swap that you would have opposed it. You also said that you did not know that. May I answer that? That wasn't a question, it was a statement. Let me ask the question, if I may first created this program, has testified or stated publicly he did not think it was arms for hostages. And later, and that's me. I don't want to be argumentative. Mr. Vice President. A whole Career. It's not fair to judge my whole career by a rehash on Iran. How would you like it if I judge your career by those seven minutes when you walked off the set in New York?

[Narrator]

As Dan Rather noted in his report, a CBS News New York Times poll had found that almost a third of all Republicans believed Bush was hiding something.

[Expert/Analyst]

CNN election night 88.

[Narrator]

But Iran Contra couldn't stop George. He eventually ran away with the Republican nomination and that fall he defeated his Democratic rival Michael Dukakis in the general election.

[Expert/Analyst]

The state of Michigan has just put George Bush over the top in the number of electoral votes needed to take.

[Narrator]

The White House after two terms as vp Bush would succeed Ronald Reagan as President. All the while, Bush maintained his diary. I say maintained because he didn't actually write his entries out by hand. He dictated them into a tape recorder. His assistant would then deliver the cassettes to the Vice President's office in Houston, Texas. There, Bush's Houston based secretary would transcribe them and file them away. Besides those two intermediaries plus the head of Bush's Houston office, no one knew that Bush was keeping a diary. Not Ronald Reagan, not the Attorney General and not Lawrence Walsh, the Independent Counsel who was investigating Iran Contra. Walsh and his team of prosecutors had started working on the case about a month after Bush dictated his first entry. And a few months after that, the Office of the Independent Counsel had submitted a document request to the White House asking for any notes, diaries or audio tapes that might be relevant to their investigation.

[Podcast Host]

All the document requests sought contemporaneous documents and were very carefully written and encompassed notes and jottings and dictations and diaries.

[Narrator]

This is John Q. Barrett, who worked on the Independent Counsel's investigation under Lawrence Walsh. Barrett is now a professor at St. John's University School of Law.

[Podcast Host]

Contemporaneous documents do speak for themselves. The notes that people are taking when they're not trying to shade their story, it gives you a roadmap.

[Narrator]

That was highly valuable evidence, highly valuable evidence that Bush did not hand over to the Independent Counsel's office. Whether Bush made that decision personally or whether someone else in his orbit made it for him, the move would have lasting consequences. Bush's diary and his failure to disclose it would become part of a showdown between the Independent Counsel's office and the President of the United States. In the end, it wasn't Reagan who would define the legacy of Iran Contra. It was Bush. I'm Leon Nayfak from Prologue Projects and Pushkin Industries. This is Fiasco Iran Contra.

[Expert/Analyst]

Iran Contra is the creature that just won't die, no matter how many times George Bush tries to drive a stake through its heart. Some top Republicans are urging Bush to retaliate.

[Reporter]

I was in fact interviewed by the FBI.

[Expert/Analyst]

The President acted as he faces a demand for notes that could still be embarrassing. Now he may try to resist on the grounds that Iran Contra is all over. I think it's the last card in the COVID up. He's played the final card.

[Narrator]

Episode 8, our season finale pardon me how George H.W. bush tried to close the loop on Iran Contra. We'll be right back. The new Trump regime is taking a brickbat to norms, the Constitution and the law, seemingly saying to the US justice system, make me will the courts hold? What you're seeing right now is a fundamental disregard of basic constitutional principles. Join me, Dalia Lithwick, on Amicus Slate's podcast about the courts and the law to hear from the lawyers, judges, advocates and analysts who have the answers. Search Amicus, that's Am I C U S Wherever you listen to podcasts, because legal knowledge is power. Mary Belcher was a reporter covering the White House for the Washington Times. When the Iran Contra scandal broke In November of 1986, the press corps was.

[Reporter]

Covering Reagan on a, I believe it was a cross country trip that ended in California and he was sort of giving a farewell even even though he had still two years left in office in 1986.

[Narrator]

As luck would have it, Belcher was actually on Air Force One when reports about Bud McFarlane and Oliver North's secret Tehran trip started trickling out. Belcher and a colleague from Time magazine had accompanied the President to California. They ended up filing the pool report that day on behalf of all the journalists in the White House press corps.

[Reporter]

We asked the President's spokesperson about these reports and we didn't get much of an answer. One thing he did say to us was be careful about repeating these sorts of reports because you could be wrong.

[Narrator]

Soon, Belcher stopped thinking of herself as a White House reporter. She was now on the Iran Contra beat. She covered the congressional hearings, the indictments of Oliver north and John Poindexter, as well as North's trial. Then Belcher was presented with an opportunity to change careers and get a very different perspective on the story.

[Reporter]

And at that point, the spokesperson for Special Counsel Lawrence Walsh was leaving to return home to Michigan. And I was invited to join the office. And I think as a reporter, you're a voyeur and you want to know what goes on inside an investigation. You've been covering and I took the job.

[Narrator]

When Belcher became the spokesperson for the Independent Counsel's office, the Walsh team was focused on John Poindexter, Reagan's former National Security Advisor. In March of 1990, it was Poindexter's turn to face trial.

[Expert/Analyst]

He is charged with five felony counts in connection with the Iran Contra scandal. If convicted, he faces a maximum of 25 years in prison.

[Narrator]

Poindexter was accused of lying to Congress about the U.S. government's role in the Contra war. He was also accused of lying to the Senate about the first U.S. sanctioned arms shipments to Iran and of deleting electronic messages he had sent over an internal White House computer network. Ronald Reagan, now out of office, testified at Poindexter's trial. He did not appear in person in the courtroom. Instead, he was beamed in by way of a videotaped deposition. Over approximately eight hours of testimony, the former President used variations on the phrase I don't recall at least 88 times.

[Expert/Analyst]

I can't say that I specifically recall. I don't have a clear recollection of what might have been discussed. I don't recall ever mentioning anyone else. I don't recall that that coming up at all. As a matter of fact, to this day, I don't know who finished the delivery of the missiles. Really, the overriding message of this is not what did the President know and when did he know it, but what did he not know and when did he not know it? I mean, the list of things that he didn't know, you heard.

[Narrator]

Poindexter was convicted on all counts, but like Oliver north, he immediately appealed the verdict, arguing that the evidence against him was tainted because it was based in part on his testimony before Congress. Here's Mary Belcher again.

[Reporter]

The word taint refers to the fact that both Oliver north and John Poindexter received immunity from Congress to give their testimony. Nothing that they said in those Congressional hearings could be used against them in any prosecution.

[Narrator]

This was a huge problem for Lawrence Walsh. And in the lead up to north and Poindexter's trials, he and his prosecutors had to take borderline comical steps to prevent themselves from becoming tainted by coverage of the Iran Contra scandal. They couldn't talk about the hearings with their families and literally had to turn off the TV or change the channel when any mention of north or Poindexter's testimony came on. When Mary Belcher joined Walsh's office, part of her job was to make sure the prosecutors on staff did not get tainted.

[Reporter]

Every day we would get all the press reports and gather them in the press office and mark out any statements or any information that could arguably be derived from either Oliver north or John Poindexter's congressional testimony. Not just direct quotes, but background information. And so sometimes I would circulate to the non tainted prosecutorial team press clips that were entirely, almost entirely blacked out.

[Narrator]

But it wasn't enough. As it turned out, defense attorneys for north and Poindexter didn't have to argue that Walsh or his prosecutors had been tainted. They could just say that witnesses in both trials had been influenced. By seeing north and Poindexter's testimony in front of Congress, the attorneys took a broad definition of influenced. Even if a witness had only subconsciously shaped their understanding of events by watching the congressional testimony, that was a violation of north and Poindexter's Fifth Amendment rights. Here's John Q. Barrett again.

[Podcast Host]

How do you negate the possibility that hearing some piece of immunized testimony didn't stimulate you to recall something that stimulated you to recall something else that stimulated something else that motivated you to sort of have a certain inflection or confidence or tone as you recounted what you believed was from your authentic memory without drawing on immunized testimony?

[Narrator]

North successfully challenged his convictions on appeal in 1990.

[Expert/Analyst]

A federal judge today dismissed all charges against former White House aide Oliver north in connection with the Iran Contra affair. This, I think, is a very, very serious warning that immunity is not to be granted lightly.

[Narrator]

The following year, Poindexter did too.

[Expert/Analyst]

The ruling was nearly identical to one that dismissed charges against former White House aide Oliver North. Poindexter had been convicted.

[Narrator]

By this point, George H.W. bush was well into his presidency. It had been an eventful period.

[Expert/Analyst]

The iron Curtain between East Germany and West Berlin has come tumbling down.

[Narrator]

The Berlin Wall had come down in Central America. The US had invaded Panama and arrested its leader, Manuel Noriega, on drug trafficking.

[Expert/Analyst]

Charges, American military forces, a nighttime invasion of Panama, and sporadic fighting continuing this.

[Narrator]

Evening in the Middle East. Bush had ordered airstrikes on Iraq and deployed half a million ground troops as part of the Gulf War against Saddam Hussein.

[Expert/Analyst]

President Bush says it will not stop until Iraq gives up Kuwait.

[Narrator]

Throughout all this, the Walsh investigation continued. The prosecutors weren't just interested in the people who had overseen the Iran initiative or had been in on the secret contra resupply effort. They were interested in anyone who had lied to investigators about either scheme after the fact. That in other words, they were interested in the possibility of a cover up. The very thing that some of Reagan's advisors had hoped to avoid. After the Iran weapons sales became public, and In November of 1991, that led Walsh and his team to focus on a very senior member of Reagan's cabinet, former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger.

[Podcast Host]

Caspar Weinberger was the Secretary of defense from the start of the Reagan administration into 1987. So for the long run of years.

[Narrator]

That included this activity, Weinberger's personal hero was Winston Churchill. And like Churchill, he could be confrontational and stubborn. Weinberger had strongly opposed the Iran weapons program, and he had tried to convince the President it was a bad idea. Later, when testifying before Congress, Weinberger said he believed he had been successful only to find out that Reagan had gone ahead with the arms shipments.

[Podcast Host]

After all, he was strongly opposed to the initiative, if you will, the idea that we should make arms deals with Iranians. The question was, did he know it was going forward or not? Despite his opposition, Walsh's team had asked.

[Narrator]

Weinberger to provide them with any contemporaneous notes he had taken about the Iran weapons sales. But Weinberger said he hadn't taken systematic notes on meetings during the years in question. He may have jotted things down on an informal basis, but he was too busy to produce a comprehensive record of events as they unfolded.

[Podcast Host]

And his general story was that he. He didn't have personal records, that he wasn't a diary keeper, that he didn't have notes.

[Expert/Analyst]

It's perfectly conceivable that it may have reflected something at the meeting which I didn't make notes on. I don't take shorthand, and I do not recall that particular subject coming up. Had it come up?

[Narrator]

But then, in 1990, Walsh's office obtained a document in which former Secretary of State George Shultz expressed frustration at having to share his personal notes with the independent counsel, while his colleague Caspar Weinberger had managed to keep his to himself.

[Podcast Host]

And then he says, and the note taker writes it down. Cap never referred to his notes, so he never had to cough them up. And cap is Caspar Weinberger. That's a, you know, incredibly direct statement and a tantalizing lead, and we pursued that.

[Narrator]

When pressed on the issue, Weinberger's lawyer told prosecutors that anything his client had written down had either been turned over already or was in the Library of Congress. It turned out that a cache of Weinberger's personal papers had been sent there after he stepped down as Secretary of defense in 1987. It was amid those personal papers that Walsh's prosecutors discovered something surprising about Caspar Weinberger.

[Podcast Host]

And it turned out that Caspar Weinberger was a habitual, meticulous note taker. You know, lived each day with a white pad at his side and logged his activities and sometimes added detail of what he learned in a meeting, what he heard from a caller. In addition, in every meeting, he took his white pad and he kept meeting notes. And those also were really sort of informal transcripts of who said what as a meeting went around the room. And none of that had been produced.

[Narrator]

There were more than 1,700 pages of Iran Contra notes in Weinberger's Library of Congress archive. They offered a window onto the internal debates that took place while the Iran arms initiative was revving up. One note quoted Reagan saying that he could answer charges of illegality, but he couldn't answer charges that big, strong President Reagan had passed up a chance to free hostages. Another note indicated that members of the National Security Council staff intended to present the arms sales as a means of helping a group that wants to overthrow the government in Iran.

[Podcast Host]

The notes were really a transcript of cabinet level knowledge in real time as the initiatives are going forward and then as the investigations are occurring.

[Narrator]

So there was a lot of information in Weinberger's notes. But even if you put that aside, and even if you put aside the question of whether Weinberger hid the notes in the Library of Congress on purpose, the mere existence of the notes suggested that he had been lying when he said he didn't have them. The truth was that Weinberger took notes obsessively and systematically. As Walsh would later write in his memoir, Weinberger often stood at a reading desk and wrote on a 5x7 inch government notepad or a legal pad. He always kept both on his desk, and when a pad was full, he would put it into a desk drawer. When the desk drawer was full, he would move the pads into the bedroom that was attached to his office.

[Podcast Host]

The analogy that Mr. Weinberger's attorneys used was it was unconscious. He took notes like he brushed his teeth. I do remember Judge Walsh saying at one point, I often don't remember when I brush my teeth, but I know I do brush my teeth. And what Weinberger was asked was not, you know, when did you last take notes? But do you take notes, you know, obviously to deny that given the physical evidence and so forth was false. It couldn't be anything other than false. And I think he had a I'm a good guy and it's none of your damn business attitude. That really was his motivation to lie to those investigators.

[Narrator]

In June of 1992, a grand jury indicted Weinberger on felony charges.

[Expert/Analyst]

Former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger was indicted today by a federal grand jury on five criminal charges related to the Iran Contra scandal.

[Narrator]

The charges included withholding his notes and making false statements about them and claiming falsely that he had been unaware of the first arms shipments to Iran. Weinberger, who by this point was the publisher of Forbes magazine, rejected Walsh's accusations.

[Expert/Analyst]

Weinberger again portrayed himself as a man who had no knowledge of early arms sales to Iran and called the charges grotesque. The decision to indict me is a grotesque distortion with a prosecutorial power and a moral and illegal outrage.

[Narrator]

The indictment of Caspar Weinberger signaled that more than five years after Walsh's appointment, the Independent counsel was still actively pursuing new targets and that he was aiming at the upper echelons of the Reagan administration.

[Expert/Analyst]

Weinberger is the highest ranking member of the Reagan administration to be charged. It appears that the independent counsel believes that there's been an ongoing cover up starting in November of 1986 that goes on through today.

[Narrator]

Weinberger's indictment catapulted Iran Contra into the middle of yet another presidential election, this one pitting George H.W. bush, who was running for a second term against the Democratic challenger, Bill Clinton. Republicans were outraged by the indictment. Some called on Walsh to voluntarily close his office and stop wasting taxpayer money. Others called on President Bush to fire him.

[Expert/Analyst]

You've got a tired special prosecutor and some aggressive on the federal payroll scalp hunters who are out to get Ronald Reagan, I think that's clear. And the means they've chosen to do it is to try to intimidate Cap Weinberger, and that's obvious.

[Narrator]

The most vocal critic of the Weinberger indictment was Bush's one time rival for the Republican nomination. Bob Dole was now serving as Senate Minority Leader. He described Walsh and his staff as a squad of highly paid assassins and accused them of trying to pressure Weinberger into testifying against Reagan.

[Expert/Analyst]

It's been five years now and somewhere between 30 and $50 million and haven't got much to show for. And they keep perpetuating themselves in office hoping they might sooner or later be able to get something on Ronald Reagan. They should have been closed up two or three years ago. If Congress spent $50 million in this kind of chicanery, the liberal media around this town would be investigating.

[Narrator]

But Walsh's office did not shut down. Instead, two months later, the prosecutors dropped a second bomb when they filed a brief that contained an intriguing footnote. It quoted from a previously undisclosed memo about a 1987 phone conversation between Weinberger and then Secretary of State George Shultz.

[Expert/Analyst]

Iran Contra is the creature that just won't die, no matter how many times George Bush tries to drive a stake through its heart.

[Narrator]

The memo dated to when Bush was still Reagan's vp. In an interview with the Washington Post, Bush claimed not to have realized that both Weinberger and Shultz had been against the Iran arms sales. The memo indicated Weinberger had seen Bush's comments and called Shultz to complain. Why did he say that? Weinberger asked. He was on the other side. The phone call suggested that Bush had actively supported the Iran weapons program. When the memo came out, Democratic lawmakers were quick to pounce on it. Well, it turns out the President's recollection.

[Expert/Analyst]

Of affairs of state a mere six.

[Narrator]

Years ago when he was Vice President of the United States are contradicted by.

[Expert/Analyst]

Secretary Weinberger and Secretary Shultz.

[Narrator]

Well, on the floor of the House, I can't say that the President of the United States lied, but the case is clear from the Washington Post.

[Expert/Analyst]

Bush.

[Narrator]

Tried to dodge questions about the memo.

[Expert/Analyst]

I don't know about that. I've told very openly everything I have to say about it. I don't know about that memo. So I don't. I saw a story on it. To be honest with you, I didn't read it. Do you know what they're talking about?

[Narrator]

Bill Clinton started bringing up the memo on the trail, offering it as a retort to questions about his draft deferment, which he called a hill of beans compared to Bush's support for illegal conduct. Clinton's running mate, Al Gore got in on the action too.

[Expert/Analyst]

Well, the new evidence came out in the form of notes and they asked him about it and he just said, oh, I didn't read that story and just brushed it off. Well, I would like for him to concentrate on that and see whether he can remember what he said and what he did.

[Narrator]

On October 13, 1992, Bush was interviewed by Katie Couric. Do you have any knowledge of the.

[Expert/Analyst]

Iran Contra arms for hostages deal while you ran off 450 times under oath? Some of them in our staff, 3,500. Yes. I said all along that, that I knew about the arms going and I supported the President. I gave speeches about it.

[Narrator]

Remember, up to this point, Bush had insisted that he did not know the weapons sales were part of an armed for hostages trade. Now he seemed to be admitting that he did and pretending that he had been saying so all along.

[Expert/Analyst]

Late today, White House aides said Bush misunderstood Katie Couric's question. The aides say when the arms deal was cooked up, he did not fully understand it because he was not in the loop.

[Narrator]

While Bush and Clinton battled over Iran Contra in the media, defense lawyers for Caspar Weinberger battled Walsh and his prosecutors in court. By the end of October, the Independent Counsel's office was preparing to file a superseding indictment against Weinberger, essentially an addendum that introduced more specifics to the case against him. One of those specifics came from a note discovered in Weinberger's files. Weinberger's note said the President had decided to go with the Israeli Iranian offered to release our five hostages in return for the sale of 4,000 TOW missiles. George Shultz and I opposed VP favored. VP favored. Here was something better than a huffy phone call between two cabinet members. It was a contemporaneous record of Bush's support for the arms for hostages scheme.

[Expert/Analyst]

And there we were faced with the question, do we take out the VP favors or do we leave it in?

[Narrator]

This is Jim Brosnahan, a prosecutor on Walsh's team. He remembers reading a draft of the superseding indictment before it was filed and talking to Walsh about whether VP Favored should be taken out. Under normal circumstances, they might not have even considered it. But this was the last week of October, just days before Americans would be going to the polls. Was VP Favored too explosive to release so close to Election Day?

[Expert/Analyst]

And my decision was, and I take responsibility for it. A lot of Washington people thought this was wrong. I respect their opinion. But I thought I wasn't going to remove and make successful the Vice President's cover up. He had been dissembling with the American public. I wasn't going to take it out.

[Narrator]

In the press room at the federal courthouse in Washington, reporters combed through the indictment for new information.

[Expert/Analyst]

And everybody in the press room was going about their business and doing other things. And over in the corner is a reporter and he's typing furiously. All the other reporters went over to see what he was madly typing about. And so they all looked at it and they saw VP Favors. And that Friday night, the three leading television channels ran the story of the Vice President and all hell broke loose. New material that directly contradicts President Bush's claim that he was out of the loop in the Iran Contra affair. George Shultz and I opposed Bill Casey, Ed Meese and Vice President Bush. Campaigning in Pittsburgh, Clinton quickly interrupted his schedule to pounce on the revelations in the Weinberger indictment. Secretary Weinberger's notes clearly show that President Bush has not been telling the truth when he says he was out of the loop.

[Narrator]

As Bush and Clinton were making their closing arguments in the campaign, Bush's claims about Iran Contra were under scrutiny. Had he lied about his involvement? And if so, was he lying to protect Reagan or himself? Bush responded to the news the same way he had been responding to questions about iran Contra since 1986, by insisting that he had never been inconsistent and denying that Weinberger's notes on the meeting were in any way revelatory.

[Expert/Analyst]

We have a call from Little Rock from.

[Narrator]

During an appearance on Larry King Live, Bush was confronted on the air by one of Clinton's top aides.

[Expert/Analyst]

From George Stephanopoulos.

[Narrator]

Oh no.

[Expert/Analyst]

Oh no. Go ahead. He is Governor Clinton's campaign manager. This is an open phone session. He dialed in directly. It was a secret number. Go ahead, George. Mr. President, you asked us to find.

[Narrator]

Out what the smoking gun was and this memo clearly shows that it was indeed arms for hostages, five hostages in return for the sale of 4,000 TOW missiles and that you knew it then.

[Expert/Analyst]

According to Mr. Weinberger. May I reply now? Let me. Let me tell you now, Mr. Stephanopoulos. Very able to. Young man, it is the Democrats who have been pushing to the tune of some $40 million these hearings.

[Narrator]

Bush suggested that Walsh had included VP favored in his indictment in order to help the Clinton campaign.

[Expert/Analyst]

Are you implying or saying that Walsh did that today? Politically? No, I'm asking. Isn't it strange? I'm not implying anything. Let the American people. Let the American people be the judge. Let the American people.

[Narrator]

Four days later, Bush lost the election.

[Expert/Analyst]

The American people have voted to make a new beginning. A landslide victory ushers in the Clinton era. Today, Wednesday, November 4th. It's been a humiliating defeat for Republicans. The landslide was in the electoral votes. Maybe you didn't read the election returns. It didn't work out quite the way we wanted. He told his supporters he's going to finish the job with style.

[Narrator]

Bush had been voted out of office as a one term president. But he still had more than two months left in the White House. Speculation began almost immediately that Walsh's superseding indictment of Weinberger had cost Bush the White House. Bob Dole called it a deliberate hit job by the anti Reagan, anti Bush independent counsel's office.

[Expert/Analyst]

Aides say Bush is not angry at Clinton, but there is anger at Iran Contra prosecutor Lawrence Walsh for what the White House claims is a witch hunt that hurt Bush in the election.

[Narrator]

Here's John Q. Barrett again.

[Podcast Host]

You know, whether it was sincerely believed or just was a convenient punching bag, a lot of people said that the Walsh superseding indictment and the phrase VP favored had caused Bush to lose.

[Narrator]

A Los Angeles Times exit poll found that the recent Iran Contra news had not swayed many voters. The truth was Bush had been trailing Clinton since the summer, but he had been gaining momentum in recent weeks. And it did fade away after Walsh's big reveal. At a meeting of Republican Party leaders, Bob Dole accused Walsh of being in the tank for Clinton.

[Expert/Analyst]

I'd say to Mr. Walsh, why don't you have a little in house investigation? Why don't you take a look, see if you can find one Republican on your staff. Mr. Walsh.

[Narrator]

In fact, Walsh himself was a lifelong Republican. He was appointed to serve as a federal judge by President Eisenhower and later served as his deputy attorney general. Nevertheless, four Senate Republicans made a formal request that the Department of Justice appoint a new independent counsel to investigate the old one. It was an ironic move. Republicans had recently killed the independent counsel law put in place after Watergate. The law was set to expire in a few weeks, which meant there was just enough time to get one more independent counsel investigation started. Bob Dole prepared a list of criminal statutes he thought Walsh may have violated, and he sent it to Bush's Attorney General, Bill Barr. In a memo, Barr was advised against appointing another independent counsel. The author of the memo was the head of DOJ's criminal division, Robert Mueller. In the end, Barr decided Mueller had it right. Instead of appointing a new independent counsel, he referred the Walsh matter to the criminal division. Around the same time, the independent counsel spokesperson, Mary Belcher, was asked to come in for an interview with the FBI. They wanted to know if she had given the Clinton campaign advance warning that the superseding indictment of Caspar Weinberger was coming.

[Reporter]

And I don't know if anybody knows this, but I was in fact interviewed by the FBI to ask me whether or not I had leaked information to the Clinton campaign.

[Narrator]

Republicans had been raising the possibility of a leak in the media. They were suspicious because a statement issued by the Clinton campaign about the VP favored memo had been dated October 29, one day before the indictment of Caspar Weinberger was filed. The explanation from the Clinton camp was that someone had simply entered the wrong date by mistake. In a Virginia FBI field office, agents asked Mary Belcher if she was personally acquainted with Clinton's communications director, George Stephanopoulos. How did it come to be that FBI agents were asking about this?

[Reporter]

I don't know. I assume somebody high up thought that there was a story there, there was something worth investigating, some criminal activity that Judge Walsh's office was somehow working in concert with presidential hopeful Bill Clinton.

[Narrator]

I asked Belcher if she thought her questioning had been part of an FBI investigation into Walsh's office. She said it had never really occurred to her to wonder and that she had never discussed it with any of her colleagues.

[Reporter]

You know, I guess I could request the FBI 302 with my name on it. A 302 is a record of an investigation. It's generally a one or two sheet thing. It would be kind of funny to see it, but it was serious business. I don't want to make light of it, but I really don't know anything more about it.

[Narrator]

With the integrity of their office under attack, Walsh and his prosecutors continued to prepare for the trial of Caspar Weinberger, in which they would try to convince a jury that he had illegally withheld his notes from Iran Contra investigators. Then, on December 11, 1992, the Walsh team received an astonishing piece of information. George H.W. bush had kept a diary. A few months earlier, one of Bush's administrative assistants had found the diary while taking inventory in the White House. She thought it looked relevant to the independent counsel's investigation, so she shared it with Bush's White House counsel. He kept a diary to himself until after the election. When Walsh found out about the diary, he didn't say anything about the matter publicly, and it was unclear what, if anything, he was going to do about it. Meanwhile, George H.W. bush was now a lame duck president, but he was still in charge. And as conservative commentators reminded him over and over again in the weeks after his defeat, that meant he had the power to issue pardons.

[Expert/Analyst]

Some top Republicans are urging Bush to retaliate by pardoning former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger and other Iran Contra defendants. I think what happened to Cap Weinberger is one of the most disgusting things I've seen in 14 years in Washington. He should be crowned with Garland.

[Narrator]

The specter of pardons for the Iran Contra defendants had been hanging over Walsh's investigation from the very beginning. Some had expected Ronald Reagan to issue pardons before leaving office, but Reagan didn't do it. And the idea that Bush should started gaining purchase among Republicans after his loss. Attorney General Bill Barr gave an interview in which he said the Iran Contra defendants had been treated very unfairly. Barr declined to say at the time whether he was advising the President to issue pardons, but years later he would confirm that he was strongly in favor. John Barrett says he didn't think pardons were likely.

[Podcast Host]

The things that were kind of in play between the election and the end of 1992 or between the election, election and Christmas were that George Bush had withheld responsive documents, that the White House Counsel's office had been part of wittingly or unwittingly withholding those documents, and that George Bush was on notice that he was likely to be called as a witness in the Weinberger trial. All of that added up to a situation where I thought it would be unlikely because of the self interest that is palpable, that President Bush would exercise his pardon power. I was wrong.

[Narrator]

We'll be right back. The new Trump regime is taking a brick bat to norms, the Constitution and the law, seemingly saying to the US justice system, make me will the courts hold? What you're seeing right now is a fundamental disregard of basic constitutional principles. Join me, Dalia Lithwick on Amicus Slate's podcast about the courts and the law to hear from the lawyers, judges, advocates and analysts who have the answers. Search Amicus, that's Am I C U S wherever you listen to podcasts, because legal knowledge is power.

[Expert/Analyst]

The Christmas Eve bombshell from President Bush Today it ended. President Bush pardoned Caspar Weinberger, accused of lying to Congress and five others in the scandal. Bush called it an act of healing.

[Narrator]

The Iran Contra prosecutor. Pardons were announced on Christmas Eve. There were six in all, three of them going to people associated with the CIA, and one to former State Department official Elliot Abrams. Another went to Bud McFarlane, who had pleaded guilty to withholding information from Congress. McFarland's colleagues Oliver north and John Poindexter didn't need pardons because their convictions had been overturned. That left Caspar Weinberger, who was still awaiting trial. Bush's sixth pardon went to him.

[Expert/Analyst]

By barring a Weinberger trial and pardoning others who he said had acted out of patriotic motives, Bush tried to put the Iran Contra prosecutors out of business.

[Narrator]

In announcing the pardons, Bush called Caspar Weinberger a true American patriot. Some may argue that this will prevent full disclosure of some new key facts to the American people. Bush said that is not true. The matter has been investigated exhaustively. Lawrence Walsh wasted no time in reacting, and he held nothing back.

[Expert/Analyst]

Prosecutor Walsh responded today, saying the pardons undermined the principle that no man is above the law.

[Narrator]

Walsh called the pardons the last card in the COVID up. He also disclosed for the first time the existence of Bush's diaries and the fact that they had been withheld from prosecutors until after the election.

[Expert/Analyst]

He is pardoning a person who committed the same type of misconduct that he did. President Bush withheld notes that should have been made available to Congress in the spring of 1987 and into my office at the same time.

[Narrator]

To some, it looked an awful lot like Bush had pardoned Caspar Weinberger in order to avoid further scrutiny of his own role in Iran Contrary and his newly discovered diaries.

[Expert/Analyst]

The President acted as he faces a demand for notes that could still be embarrassing. Now he may try to resist on the grounds that Iran Contra is all over.

[Podcast Host]

I can't speak to President Bush's thought process or the lawyers who are advising him, Boyden Gray and Bill Barr, but it's a sure thing that if Bush had testified in the Weinberger trial and his diary had been produced, I mean, we would have gotten and produced it and shared it with the defense. He would have been examined or cross examined or refreshed based on those diary entries. And a pardon made it a sure thing that there would be no trial and thus that he would never have to testify and thus that those diary entries would never be used in trial evidence.

[Narrator]

Walsh was asked if he might bring criminal charges against Bush after he left the White House. Walsh indicated that he had not ruled it out.

[Expert/Analyst]

Is it remotely conceivable there could be a prosecution of President Bush? I could not comment on that. He's the subject now of our investigation.

[Narrator]

Bush, meanwhile, was devastated by his loss in the election. In his diary he noted that he had slept well except for waking up in the middle of the night thrashing around about the prosecutor. But after some consideration, the prosecutor and his team decided not to charge Bush with a crime.

[Podcast Host]

We had, you know, extensive discussions. We all, of course, reassembled, you know, right after Christmas or right after the first of the year. And the consensus of the office was that, you know, really this was the conclusion. A former President of the United States is a very special category of subject. It's almost inconceivable that one would be charged with a federal crime. Almost inconceivable.

[Narrator]

For the prosecutors in Walsh's office, the only thing left to do was assemble their findings and present them to Congress. Their 1200 page report was released in January of 1994, seven years after Walsh was first appointed.

[Expert/Analyst]

After a seven year investigation, independent counsel Lawrence Walsh concluded that there was a cover up by the Reagan administration of its 1985 arms sales to Iran for the purpose of releasing hostages and its funding of the Nicaraguan Contras.

[Narrator]

Walsh's conclusion was that President Reagan had not committed any crime, but that he had set the stage for the illegal activities of others by encouraging and in general terms ordering support of the Contras. Bush hadn't committed any crimes either, Walsh said, and it turned out his diaries didn't contain much new information. Despite that first entry in which Bush called himself one of the few people who knew the details, most of what followed was pretty anodyne. In a press conference, Walsh emphasized that Iran Contra had not been the work of a few rogue operators, that it had come from the top. Even if Reagan himself wasn't fully engaged on the details of what was happening.

[Expert/Analyst]

They didn't run off by themselves to violate the law. They thought they were carrying out his wishes. They had the backing of very high government officials in the agencies, in the State Department, the Defense Department and the CIA. So it's in no sense a rogue operation.

[Narrator]

Walsh reserved his harshest criticism from Bush's decision to issue pardons.

[Expert/Analyst]

I think President Bush will always have to answer for his pardon. I think that was the most unjustifiable act. There was no public purpose served by that. President Reagan, on the other hand, was carrying out policies that he strongly believed in. He thought he was serving the country and what he did and the fact that he disregarded certain laws and statutes in the course of it was not because of any possibly self centered purpose.

[Narrator]

By the time Walsh's report was published, George H.W. bush was living as a retiree in Houston and Ronald Reagan was suffering privately from the early stages of Alzheimer's. Bill Clinton was dealing with the fallout from a magazine article in which a group of Arkansas state troopers alleged that he had had a sexual encounter in a hotel room with a woman named Paula. Meanwhile, in Central America, the leader of the Sandinistas, Daniel Ortega, had been voted out as President of Nicaragua and succeeded by the US backed candidate Violeta Chamorro. As for the American hostages in Lebanon, most of them had been released. Two who never came home, including CIA station chief William Buckley, had died in captivity and their bones had been found on the side of the road in Beirut. Iran Contra was over. Any remaining questions about why it happened and who deserved the blame would have to be examined through a rear view mirror. On March 1, 2003, just over 10 years after Bush issued his Christmas Eve pardons, Oliver north was scheduled to set sail for the Caribbean. North was hosting a week long celebration billed as the Freedom Cruise to mark the 20th anniversary of the US invasion of Grenada. As you heard in our first episode, Grenada was taken over by hard line communists during a coup in 1983. A group of American medical students studying on the island were believed to be in danger. The Reagan administration saw an opportunity to intervene and strike a blow against communism in the Western Hemisphere. Oliver north had helped plan the operation. Twenty years later, north was set to lead a private tour of Grenada as part of the Freedom Cruise. Other special guests would include Ronald Reagan's Attorney General, Ed Meese. But at the last minute, Oliver north had to cancel his trip.

[Expert/Analyst]

Target Iraq. Here is Tom Brokaw. Good evening, everyone. It has been an evening of tense expectations. The 48 hour deadline for Saddam Hussein.

[Narrator]

President George W. Bush was preparing to invade Iraq.

[Expert/Analyst]

Saddam Hussein will be stopped.

[Narrator]

For the past two years, north had been hosting a show on Fox News called War Stories about extraordinary events in military history.

[Expert/Analyst]

I'm Oliver North. Welcome to War Stories. This is the deck of the USS New Jersey, now permanently burst.

[Narrator]

Now Fox News was sending north to the Middle East.

[Expert/Analyst]

Right now, Ollie north joins us on the phone. He is on the east bank of the Tigris river looking into the city. In fact, the camera's probably panning around towards Ollie. Ollie, of course, is with the Marines.

[Narrator]

On March 12, while the Grenada freedom crews went on without him, north appeared on the Fox News show Hannity and Combs to talk about the mood on the ground. These Marines have been out here for almost two months and they're ready, north said.

[Expert/Analyst]

We're kind of like divers at the end of the board, poised and ready to plunge and waiting for somebody to give us the sign, signal to jump off the board.

[Narrator]

North said one of the nice things about being with the troops was that everyone was blissfully unaware of anti war protesters and the machinations of politicians in Washington. Out here, the focus is on the mission, north said. And what they really want to do is simply get on with it. And that is it for this season of Fiasco. Keep an eye out for our season on the Benghazi scandal, which will soon be appearing in this feed. For a list of books, articles and documentaries we used in our research, follow the link in the show notes. Fiasco is a production of prologue projects and it's distributed by Pushkin Industries. The show is produced by Andrew Parsons, Madeline Kaplan, Ula Culpa and me, Leon Nayfak. Our editor was Camilla Hammer. Our researcher was Frances Carr with additional archival research from Caitlin Nicholas. Our music is by Nick Sylvester. Our theme song is by Spatial Relations. Our artwork is by Teddy Blanks at Chips NY Audio mix by Rob Byers, Michael Rayfiel and Johnny Vince Evans, copyright counsel provided by Peter Yassi at Yossi Butler, pllc. Thanks to Brian Bunnell, Kerry Baker, Melissa Kaplan, TC Winter, Alice Gregory, Marcella Nadell, Kaitlyn Phillips, Ed Winstead, Ryan Sweichart, Mark Feeney, Shane Harris, Malcolm Byrne, Joe Weisberg, Jacob Weisberg, Steven Fisher, Ed Clarris, Alexia Bedot, Jessica Hansen, Evan Bell, Lisa De Leon, Jennifer Valdez, Adam Davidson, Laura Mayer, Michael Wright and Jill Burkhart, Richard Plepler, Ken Druckerman and everyone at Leftright. Jill Abramson, John Davidson and Interface Media Group. Matt Sachs, Jamie Lynes, Becky Verhey and everyone at Luminary. Thanks also to Sam, Graham Felson, Katsi Kamkova, Soraya Shockley and Sam Lee. Special thanks to Alexandra Garreton, Sarah Bruguer and the whole team at Pushkin Industries. And thank you for listening.

[Reporter]

The election has come and gone.

[Narrator]

Now we're in a new era.

[Podcast Host]

It can be easy to get discouraged.

[Reporter]

Frustrated, but you can't afford not to pay attention.

[Narrator]

You need trustworthy, independent journalism to cut.

[Reporter]

Through the noise and hold power to account. I'm Mary Harris, host of What Next from Slate.com we are a daily news podcast with a kind of transparent, smart yet tongue in cheek analysis you can.

[Narrator]

Only find at Slate.

[Podcast Host]

Follow and listen to what Next. Wherever you get your podcasts, you're listening to an iHeart podcast.