Byrd Says Abrams Has Lost Credibility, Should Resign

Senate Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd (D-W. Va.) called on Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams on Friday to resign, charging his credibility was “shot completely” by the admission that he had misled Congress on secret efforts to aid the Nicaraguan contras.

Byrd said Abrams cannot continue as the “main man” of the Reagan Administration’s Central America policy because “no one” in Congress trusts him, thus adding another obstacle to the White House’s request for an additional $100 million in aid for the Nicaraguan rebels.

Arrogance Charged

“Whatever credibility he had is gone, shot completely,” Byrd told reporters, saying that Abrams’ testimony to the joint Senate-House committee investigating the Iran-contra affair was “deceptive and shows an arrogance typical of this Administration so often.”

When asked whether the Administration’s request for additional military and humanitarian aid to the contras would be hurt if Abrams remained in his post, Byrd said, “This Administration has enough problems with contra aid to have a spokesman that no one believes.”

Letter to Shultz

Committee members Sen. David L. Boren (D-Okla.) and Rep. Jack Brooks (D-Tex.) also have suggested that Abrams’ credibility has been destroyed. Reps. Jim Moody (D-Wis.) and Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) have gathered about 70 signatures for a letter to Secretary of State George P. Shultz, urging “the immediate resignation or replacement” of Abrams.

But Shultz has adamantly said that Abrams will remain in his post and conveyed his strong support to White House officials, who are in Venice, Italy, for the seven-nation economic summit meeting. Shultz on Wednesday expressed his confidence in Abrams and called him a “man of integrity and candor.”