Baker Calls Pretrial Pardons for North, Others Unlikely

White House Chief of Staff Howard H. Baker Jr., in an interview broadcast Saturday, said it is highly unlikely that President Reagan would issue a pretrial pardon for former aides indicted in the Iran-Contra scandal.

Baker, interviewed by the Cable News Network, said Reagan is committed to allowing the legal process to reach a conclusion before considering pardons for former White House aide Oliver L. North and retired Rear Adm. John M. Poindexter, his former national security adviser.

North, Poindexter and two associates, retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord and Iranian-born businessman Albert A. Hakim, pleaded not guilty on Thursday to charges arising from the affair, and legal experts said their trials would likely extend long past Reagan’s January, 1989, departure from office.

Baker, when asked if the President would pardon his former aides before their trials concluded, replied: “I think it is highly unlikely.

“The President is committed to seeing that the legal system operates, and I do not anticipate that he will address the pardon issue until it does,” he said.

Baker’s remarks, however, appeared to leave open the possibility of pardons for the two men if their trials are concluded before Reagan leaves the White House.

Reagan has come under pressure from conservatives to pardon North and Poindexter but a poll released Thursday said Americans would oppose a pretrial pardon by 64% to 27%. But they were divided 43% to 43% on a post-trial pardon.

Meanwhile, former President Jimmy Carter criticized Reagan for proclaiming the innocence of North and Poindexter, telling a meeting of government and business leaders in Arlington, Va., Saturday that Reagan showed “a callous attitude toward the principles of law enforcement”.