Excerpts: Col. North Was Hard Working, . . . and I Think That He Was Effective

Following are excerpts from testimony Tuesday by Fawn Hall, former secretary to Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, before the congressional committees investigating the Iran-contra affair: Part of the Team

(W. Neil Eggleston, deputy chief counsel of the House committee, asked Hall about North’s comments to her while they were shredding documents in his office.)

Question: Did he at any time tell you that this was something you should not get involved in?

Answer: No.

Q: He didn’t tell you, “Fawn,” or “Ms. Hall,” whatever he called you, “Go home, don’t worry about this, this is nothing you should have anything to do with.”

A: No, I was part of the team.

Q: So, he permitted you to participate with him in shredding this stack of documents?

A: Yes, sir.

(Eggleston asked about Hall’s removing documents from the White House.)

Q: You knew at the time that if you were to leave the room, that (security officials) would be checking briefcases and other things to ensure that documents would not be taken out of the room.

A: Yes, sir.

Q: And I take it Col. North knew that as well.

A: Col. North, yes, was asked, his briefcase (was) to be checked, yes.

Q: And so, when you actually--when these documents were actually taken outside the room and past the security checkpoint, if you will, it was you who actually took them out?

A: That’s correct.

Q: And if someone was going to be stopped at the exit of that office, it was going to be you, not Col. North?

A: Yes.

Q: At the elevator on the third floor, as you were getting ready to leave the building, did you at that time attempt to give him the documents, or once again indicate that you wanted to get rid of them?

A: Yes, I did. . . . And he said: “Why don’t we just wait ‘til we get outside.”

Q: So, again, it was you who actually carried the documents outside the building?

A: Yes, sir.

Q: And it was because he told you, “No, you keep them until we get outside.” And it was not until you’d arrived at the car that the documents . . . were actually transferred over to Col. North? Is that right?

A: That’s correct. Removing Documents

(Sen. David L. Boren (D-Okla.) asked Hall what lawyer Thomas C. Green told her about removing the documents.)

Q: Col. North and Mr. Green both were anxious that you not take the documents out in front of other people, that you wait until you get in the car?

A: I don’t know if the word is “anxious,” I mean, they weren’t, you know . . . frantic. They just said, hey, wait ‘til we get inside the car . . .

Q: Did Mr. Green indicate to you that you should not be taking these documents out?

A: No, sir. Mr. Green didn’t comment on any of what was going on.

Q: . . . He didn’t say anything to you like, “Miss Hall, as a lawyer, I should tell you that you might be in some jeopardy for taking these documents out . . .”

A: No, sir.

Q: I want to ask you just one more time, because while Col. North was not a lawyer, and certainly you’re not a lawyer, Mr. Green is a lawyer and a sworn officer of the court. And he at no time tried to dissuade you or made strong statements to you about not taking documents or about being truthful about the shredding? He didn’t in any way attempt to urge you to preserve evidence?

A: No, sir.

(Rep. Louis Stokes (D-Ohio) asked Hall about the document shredding.)

Q: As you joined in with your boss in this shredding . . . you did feel that there was a reason for this?

A: I guess what was probably going through my mind is that the Iran initiative had been exposed and I realized that at the time . . . so I probably associated the shredding with that.

Q: And did you surmise that this was a way of trying to cover up something in conjunction with the Iran initiative or the contra initiative?

A: I don’t use the word “cover-up.” I would use the word “protect.”

(Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) asked Hall to describe North.)

A: I don’t think he’s (been) portrayed correctly . . . I don’t think “zealot” is an accurate word to describe Col. North. I believe that Col. North was a hard-working person, and I think that he was effective, and he had a “can do” positive attitude. He didn’t like to give up. He always thought there was a way to--there was a means to achieve goals, and he didn’t give up.