The Nation - News from July 1, 1988

The Iran-Contra prosecutor took a swipe at lawyers for fired White House aide Oliver L. North for filing “increasingly disrespectful” pleadings with the judge in the case. Independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh challenged North’s request to U.S. District Judge Gerhard A. Gesell that the judge reconsider his ruling that congressional immunity given three defendants in the case does not compromise the case. North’s “motion merely reflects the defendant’s continued frustration at this failure to force the court to afford him a full pretrial . . . hearing to which he is not entitled,” Walsh said in a one-page reply to North’s motion. Gesell ruled last month that the immunity Congress gave North, former National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter and arms dealer Albert A. Hakim did not prevent them from being tried on Iran-Contra conspiracy charges.