North’s Notebooks Subpoenaed by LaRouche in Conspiracy Trial

Lyndon H. LaRouche’s lawyers said Wednesday that they have subpoenaed the personal notebooks of Oliver L. North, the former White House aide who LaRouche contends directed a government plot to ruin him.

Word of the subpoena surfaced as hearings continued into whether prosecutors withheld from LaRouche lawyers evidence that supports defense contentions that the FBI, CIA and other government agencies harassed and infiltrated LaRouche groups.

Testimony Delayed

Because of disputes over defense access to classified records, U.S. District Judge Robert E. Keeton on Wednesday delayed resumption of testimony to April 19 at the earliest. The jury has been in court only one of the last five weeks.

LaRouche, six aides and five LaRouche political organizations are charged with conspiring to stymie a federal grand jury investigation of alleged credit card and loan fraud by fund-raisers for LaRouche’s 1984 presidential campaign. Four of the organizations are charged with fraud.

LaRouche, who is seeking the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination, contends that evidence of fraud and obstruction was fabricated by FBI and CIA plants in his organizations and that North was behind the plot because of LaRouche’s opposition to President Reagan’s Contra aid programs.

The North subpoena demands that the former Marine surrender any documents in his possession that mention the defendants, government witnesses or three intelligence operatives who told the FBI that they had been asked by top FBI and CIA officials to infiltrate LaRouche organizations.

To support the subpoena, defense attorney William Moffitt cited a memo in which retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord tells North of an apparent effort to collect information about LaRouche. One of the three intelligence operatives is mentioned in the memo.

North and Secord have been indicted for their roles in the Iran-Contra scandal.

Moffitt said North’s lawyers have agreed to accept the subpoena but have indicated that they will ask Keeton to quash it.