GOP, Democrats Swap Jabs Over Scandal Indictments

Congressional Republicans who investigated the Iran-Contra affair criticized today the indictments of two former White House officials and two other men, but Democrats, pointing out that the independent prosecutor is a lifelong Republican, said the charges buttress last year’s findings.

“I personally think that the indictment counts are pathetic,” said Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) on ABC-TV’s “Good Morning America.”

“You have in this particular case 30 full-time lawyers, 50 investigators, millions of dollars being spent by the government, an overwhelming onslaught of legalities here,” said Hatch, one of the Reagan Administration’s strongest supporters during last summer’s hearings.

Rep. Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.), chairman of the House Iran-Contra committee, who also appeared on ABC, said the charges are similar to the conclusions reached by the legislative panels, although the committees did not apportion criminal blame.

‘Very Serious Offenses’

“When we set out, there were a number of laws that we thought had been broken. . . . The indictments track these findings in our report very carefully,” Hamilton said.

“These are very serious offenses,” said another Democrat from the Senate panel, Sen. George J. Mitchell of Maine, on NBC’s “Today” show.

“I think it should be noted that the prosecutor (Lawrence Walsh) is a lifelong Republican, a former deputy attorney general in a Republican administration, appointed to the court by a Republican President so there are no political implications in the prosecution,” said Mitchell.

Rep. Dick Cheney (R-Wyo.) said on NBC: “I don’t think that men like Poindexter . . . and North deserve to end up being prosecuted on criminal grounds that deal with their service in government. . . . I’m not sure the indictments are warranted but I’m sure at this point probably the only way to resolve it is to go forward with the trials.”

‘Long Legal Process’ Seen

Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.), an Administration supporter on the Iran-Contra panel, said earlier, “This is only the beginning of what will be a very long legal process that will question the sufficiency of the indictments and the constitutionality of the laws.”

Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii), chairman of the Senate committee that looked into the scandal, said, “I personally remain convinced that they (the four men) exhibited insufficient sensitivity to the rule of law, and to the fact that under our system of government the Congress must make the laws.”

But he added that “we must await the verdict of a jury of their peers as to whether this insensitivity was criminal in nature.”

Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, said, “Whatever the outcome of these prosecutions, I think the special prosecutor has given us fresh evidence that the Reagan Administration generally has put the Constitution of the United States through the shredder.”

“This will be an important issue in the campaign,” Gephardt said, particularly the role of Vice President George Bush, who is the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination.