3rd NSC Aide Won’t Testify About Iran Arms Scandal

An angry Sen. Dave Durenberger (R-Minn.), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, disclosed Friday that a third White House national security aide, Marine Lt. Col. Robert Earl, has refused to testify on the Iran- contra arms aid scandal.

Meanwhile, former White House aide Michael K. Deaver was reportedly organizing a drive to convince President Reagan to oust his embattled chief of staff, Donald T. Regan. Deaver was said to be acting at the behest of the First Lady, Nancy Reagan.

On Capitol Hill, Durenberger said Lt. Col Robert Earl, a one-time deputy to fired Lt. Col. Oliver L. North and a current National Security Council aide, took the Sixth Amendment, contending that he had insufficient time to prepare to testify.

Durenberger said that Earl, North and former NSC Chairman Adm. John M. Poindexter, praised as “national heroes” by their supporters, weren’t heroes in his book.

“Somebody is going to have to define what a national hero is,” he added. “A national hero doesn’t come in here and stiff the whole country.”

Earlier, Poindexter and North cited their Fifth Amendment rights in refusing to testify. Poindexter resigned on Nov. 25, and North, an NSC staff deputy, was fired the same day.

Durenberger made clear that he did not think their refusal to testify was any reflection on Reagan’s pledge to cooperate fully in any investigations. “I think this is a personal decision on the part of an admiral and two Marine officers,” he said.

Durenberger said Earl claimed that his one-week notice to testify was insufficient, but “I don’t buy it. . . . We’ve had plenty of witnesses who’ve had less than a full week to prepare.”

Earl’s invocation of his Sixth Amendment rights during Senate hearings appeared to be a bit premature.

The Sixth Amendment of the Constitution guarantees that “in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy trial, by an impartial jury . . . be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him . . . and to have assistance of counsel for his defense.”

One Arrest Is Made

Unlike the Fifth Amendment, which protects a citizen from making statements that could later be used against him, the Sixth Amendment guarantees rights once an arrest has been made and a criminal proceeding begun.

The Supreme Court, in a series of historic rulings, has interpreted Sixth Amendment rights to mean that anyone facing a prison term has a right to an attorney, which will be paid for by the state if he or she cannot afford one.

The invoking of Sixth Amendment rights before any charges have been brought or the matter even sent to a grand jury are apparently premature, a fact not lost on Durenberger.

“All we’re doing is asking them to testify as to their recollection of the facts,” Durenberger said. “We’re not trying to nail anybody.

‘Nothing to Fear’

“This committee is no threat to any of these soldiers. We are not in the business of investigating criminal behavior or making indictments as you would in a grand jury. They have nothing to fear from this committee and hopefully they have nothing to fear from the facts if they are so heroic.”

The Senate panel also was unsuccessful in efforts to question another witness, Howard Teicher, senior director of the National Security Council for political-military affairs, who claimed he needed more time to find a private attorney. Teicher’s testimony was delayed until Tuesday.

Meanwhile, President Reagan vowed Friday not to let the Iran arms crisis cripple his Administration, and former Reagan aide Deaver reportedly has begun a campaign to oust Regan.

Presidential spokesman Larry Speakes confirmed that Deaver arranged a meeting in the White House family quarters Dec. 4 among Reagan and his wife, Nancy, and former Democratic National Committee Chairman Robert S. Strauss and former Secretary of State William P. Rogers, to discuss the widening crisis.

The Washington Post had reported Friday that Deaver’s purpose in arranging the meeting was to press Deaver’s campaign to have Regan ousted.

The newspaper quoted one unidentified Republican as explaining Deaver’s point of view. “Deaver and his friends believe that Don Regan should resign so that the President can make a fresh start,” this source was quoted as saying. “But their effort is broader than getting rid of Regan. They think the President has to realize that his Administration faces an unprecedented crisis and that he has to get on top of it.”

But despite the urgings of Deaver and other leading outside advisers, sources said, Reagan has been noncommittal when asked to dismiss his chief of staff and may be “digging in,” determined to keep his closest aide.

Deaver, the sources said, was asked by Mrs. Reagan for help in handling the present crisis, and he set up the meeting “to give the President the benefit of advice from people who have been around a long time.”

Deaver, a former deputy White House chief of staff, is under investigation by an independent counsel for his lobbying activities after leaving the White House. He helped bring Regan into the White House.

Laxalt Backed

A source who is familiar with Deaver’s activities but who refused to be identified said the longtime aide and friend to the Reagans was not advocating anyone in particular to replace Regan, although some advisers are said to be urging Sen. Paul Laxalt (R-Nev.) to join the staff as a counselor to the President.

Meanwhile, Reagan reiterated Friday that “no doubt mistakes were made” in carrying out his decision to secretly sell arms to Iran, and said he would not be satisfied “until all the facts are before the American people.”

But, discussing his forthcoming domestic initiatives with a group of newly elected state legislators at the White House, Reagan declared: “We cannot, and we will not, let this stop us from getting on with the business of governing.”

Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.), in a series of interviews with reporters and on television and in a letter published Friday by the Post, stressed the importance of Poindexter and North telling all they know to Reagan.

“When he has all the facts, he will re-establish the Administration’s credibility by doing what has to be done,” Dole’s letter to the Post said.

“There’s more at stake than a couple of individuals right now,” he said in an interview with reporters. “We’re talking about the presidency and whether we’re going to have paralysis in this country for the next several months.”

In other developments:

- The two key Middle East middlemen in the arms deal, Saudi billionaire Adnan Khashoggi and Iranian representative Manucher Ghorbanifar, said on ABC-TV’s “20-20” program that North apparently controlled Swiss bank accounts through which up to $35 million was deposited in the secret Iran weapons transactions that he coordinated.

- At a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, Belgium, Secretary of State George P. Shultz said Reagan’s approach to the Iran crisis was “basically, let’s get all the facts out as rapidly as possible.” Shultz said he did not believe the refusal of Poindexter and North to testify would hinder congressional investigations of the Iran arms deal and diversion of profits to Nicaraguan insurgents.

“I think that as things move along, it won’t place too much of a blockage in the getting out of information,” explained Shultz, who said he himself wanted to “see the facts of the matter out on the table.”

- Former Watergate prosecutor Richard Ben-Veniste, interviewed on NBC-TV’s “Today” show, predicted that it will take about six months for the American people to learn the truth about the arms deal as a result of investigations by congressional panels and the independent counsel to be named soon.

- Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), a potential contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988, said in an NBC interview that he didn’t see why it should take six months to “tell a very simple story.” Gephardt said Reagan “has the responsibility to lead and to tell the people the truth and let the chips fall where they may.”

- Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.) accused the White House of violating the Arms Export Control Act, which requires notifying Congress of any arms shipments valued at more than $14 million. Simon said the replacement cost of the arms shipped to Iran totaled $80.3 million rather than the $12 million figure used by the White House. “We did not get fair market value from Iran for our shipments,” he said.