Reagan Willing to Turn Over Private Notes

President Reagan is willing to give Congress “excerpts from his personal notes” on the Iran- contra scandal if the material is needed to complete investigations of the affair, his spokesman said today.

Amid memories of the constitutional crisis that sprang from the fight for Richard Nixon’s Watergate tapes, senators probing the controversy called for Reagan to turn over the notes and the White House engaged in a cautious minuet with investigators over access to the papers.

The notes, which Reagan occasionally jotted down after his day’s work in the Oval Office to help in the writing of his memoirs, could erase some of the confusion over how a plan to improve relations with Iran became a scheme to sell weapons to promote the release of American hostages in Lebanon, with some profits being diverted to the Nicaraguan rebels.

Feared for Privacy

Marlin Fitzwater, the new chief presidential spokesman, told reporters this morning that White House officials were concerned about “invasion of the President’s privacy and the privacy of others” if the notes were released.

But following calls from lawmakers for the material, Fitzwater said in an afternoon statement: “President Reagan will continue to provide all information required by those conducting the inquiries into the Iran matter. Should it be determined the material is needed, the President is willing to make available relevant excerpts from his personal notes.”

‘Commitment to Cooperate’

Such a move, Fitzwater said, is in line with Reagan’s “commitment to cooperate fully. The President wants to get to the bottom of the matter and fix what went wrong.”

Fitzwater said earlier that no formal request for the notes had been received and he was careful to say no decision had been reached on how the White House would react to such a bid.

He also said, “Our feeling is that when the independent counsel and committees complete their investigations they will have the wherewithal (to form judgments) and it will not be necessary to go into the personal notes.”

But congressional investigators expressed interest in seeing the private Reagan records, which were publicly revealed Sunday.

Notes private, White House said Sunday. Page 6.