LaRouche Calls Critics Insane, Wants Regan Put in Jail

Lyndon LaRouche said Wednesday that he represents “the forgotten majority” and characterized his critics as being insane, pro-Soviet or linked to an international drug lobby.

He contended also that President Reagan’s chief aide, Donald T. Regan, should be in jail and dismissed as lies charges by groups such as the Anti-Defamation League and the AFL-CIO that he is an “anti-Semite” and a “fascist.”

‘Drug Lobby’ Blamed

“I know of no case of any attack on me, which has been published or which I have noticed in the news media, which did not originate with the drug lobby or with the Soviet operation,” he said during an appearance at the National Press Club.

The session ended with LaRouche’s cutting off an NBC correspondent who had asked him about the finances of his organization of a few thousand people worldwide.

“You guys (NBC) are a bunch of liars,” said LaRouche, in response to a network report Tuesday that quoted sources as saying he is being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service. “How could I talk to a drug pusher like you.”

Presidential Candidate

LaRouche, 63, a three-time presidential candidate on the political fringe, surged into the national spotlight last month when two of his followers scored upsets in the Illinois primary by winning the Democratic nominations for lieutenant governor and secretary of state.

He said that his followers in Illinois had drawn support from “the forgotten majority”--farmers, blue-collar households and blacks. He added that the victories showed that average Americans do not believe their government and the news media and that they want him “to stick it to them in Washington.”

Most LaRouche candidates run on the ticket of the National Democratic Policy Committee, which has no connection with the Democratic Party.

Standing before about 100 reporters and photographers, LaRouche repeatedly accused the Soviet government, the British government, drug dealers, international bankers and financial institutions of being involved in worldwide conspiracies.

He accused American officials of formulating a “criminal or insane” foreign policy and referred to U.S. leaders as “idiotic” and “berserk.”

LaRouche suggested that Regan, the President’s chief of staff, was tied to drug money “laundering” by Wall Street firms. Regan is a former executive of the brokerage firm of Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith.

He said that, to stop drug dealing, authorities must be able to trace money used in such transactions and “you have to jail the bankers who do that--like Donald Regan, presently chief of staff of the White House--put them in jail where they belong.”

Fears Assassination

LaRouche said also that he has been marked for assassination by the Soviets and that two other people on the same list of targets have been killed.

“In 1972-73, the Soviets began running operations against me,” LaRouche said. “In 1977, these operations became very serious.”

Because of that threat, LaRouche said, he has led a nomadic life in which he is sheltered from harm by supporters.