White House Disavows Buchanan View on Law

Presidential spokesman Larry Speakes said today that recent public comments by White House Communications Director Patrick J. Buchanan--in which he compared Lt. Col. Oliver L. North to Americans who broke the law for good cause--did not reflect the thinking of the White House.

“The President does not agree or condone the breaking of the law by any individual and he does not in any way believe that the President, whoever he might be, is above the law and has the right to pick and choose what laws may or may not be broken,” Speakes told reporters.

Buchanan, in a speech Monday night in Miami, told 3,000 cheering Nicaraguan and Cuban-American Reagan supporters that the press and Congress were trying to “cripple” Reagan with the Iran arms controversy.

Praises North as Hero

And in an article published Monday in the Washington Post, Buchanan praised North as a hero and blasted Republicans for deserting Reagan over the scandal, saying that with a few exceptions, “the whole damn pack has headed for the tall grass.”

Speakes, asked whether Buchanan’s speech and article reflected White House thinking, replied, “No.”

Asked if the communications director had been asked to “tone down” his remarks, Speakes said, “I haven’t heard the President express his views. . . . The President knows Pat as a man of conviction and that Pat’s only motive here is to encourage people to speak up for the President.”

Speech Not Previewed

Speakes said no one in the White House had seen a copy of Buchanan’s speech until after he had left for Miami.

Rep. Michael D. Barnes (D-Md.), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said today that Buchanan should be fired for his remarks.

“What he argued, basically, was that high officials of the government not only have a right to break the law but when they think it’s in the interest of the United States, they have a duty to break the law,” Barnes said on NBC’s “Today” show. “The man ought to be fired, frankly, not praised for what he said yesterday.”

‘God Bless Col. North’

In his speech, Buchanan said, “If Col. North broke any rules, he will stand up and take it like the fighting Marine he is. But I say, if Col. North ripped off the Ayatollah (Ruhollah Khomeini) and took $30 million and gave it to the contras , then God bless Col. North. . . . “

“What they could not accomplish at the ballot box, the President’s opponents are trying to accomplish on the evening news,” Buchanan said. “We know what they are after, and who they are after.”

Buchanan said Reagan had asked him Monday morning to attend the rally, which was billed by organizers as the first mass show of support since disclosure of the sale of U.S. arms to Iran and the diversion of funds to rebels fighting Nicaragua’s government.