Reagan ‘Shot Down’ Pardon Idea in Arms Scandal--Regan : Says President Didn’t Want to Make Accusations

Former White House Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan testified today that President Reagan “shot down right away” a proposed pardon for Iran- contra figures John M. Poindexter and Oliver L. North last December, telling aides that neither man had been accused of a crime.

Testifying for a second day at nationally televised hearings, Regan recalled the President saying, “I’ll be darned if I’m going to accuse them of a crime in advance.”

Regan said the subject “never came up again” in his presence, adding that Reagan “put his foot down hard.”

Secret Sales Opposed

With dramatic congressional hearings nearing an end, Regan was followed in the witness chair by Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger, who testified that he vehemently opposed secret arms sales to Iran from the time he first heard of the idea in 1985. (Story, Page 1.)

During Regan’s stint in the witness chair, lawmakers expressed numerous concerns that many senior Reagan Administration officials had been denied knowledge of major events.

Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes (D-Md.) said: “It seems to me what happened in all of this was, in effect, there was a junta within the government of the United States.

“You had Poindexter and North and their associates in effect invoking the authority of the President of the United States, freezing out the chief of staff, the secretary of defense and secretary of state and pursuing their own policy, policies which the President says if he had known about them, he would have strongly opposed, and policies which you said if you had known about them, you would have reacted with shock and horror.”

Hatch’s Idea Dismissed

Regan turned aside a suggestion from Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) that the affair might have turned out differently if Reagan Administration officials had questioned North and Poindexter last November as they were leaving their White House posts.

Regan said he didn’t want to impugn either man, but added, “It may be taking things too much for granted that they would have told the truth and nothing but the truth at that particular moment.”

The former White House chief of staff said he didn’t “focus on the Iranian situation at all” for most of 1986, leaving Poindexter, the President’s former national security adviser, on his own to manage the secret initiative of arms sales to Iran.

Breakfast Meetings

Regan said that during his once-a-week breakfasts with Poindexter, he discussed administrative details and presidential trips abroad, but not Iran arms sales.

When Rep. Louis Stokes (D-Ohio) brought up the pardon question, Regan said he recalled the issue arising at a meeting involving the President, Vice President George Bush and himself sometime on Dec. 8, 9 or 10 of last year.

“Somebody brought it up and it was shot down right away,” Regan said, without identifying the author of the idea.

Regan said that the pardon idea “was something the President wouldn’t even listen to.”