President Refuses Comment on North Pardon : Bush Hasn’t Talked to Anyone About Course of Action, White House Says

President Bush has not discussed the question of whether to pardon Oliver North, Bush’s spokesman said today, a day after the former White House aide was convicted on felony counts in connection with the Iran-Contra case.

“He said, ‘I haven’t discussed it with anybody,’ ” White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater told reporters, recounting the President’s reply when Fitzwater asked him about a pardon Thursday.

Fitzwater refused any further comment on the North verdict or trial documents that appeared to indicate Bush was involved in a Reagan Administration plan to make a quid pro quo arrangement with Honduras in return for its assistance to the rebels in Nicaragua.

Fitzwater said the appropriate congressional committees will be briefed on confidential cables that described Bush’s activities in that regard.

52% Favor a Pardon

At a photo session in the Oval Office, the President personally took the same approach as Fitzwater, refusing any comment on the conviction or on the pardon issue just one day after he said the verdict had freed him to answer other questions that arose during North’s trial about his own actions when he was vice president.

A poll released today by USA Today found a majority of Americans, 52% to 36%, believe North should be pardoned. The survey of 814 people also found 72% agreed that he was a “fall guy” for other government officials in the scandal; only 21% agreed that he was a “loose cannon.”

Rep. Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.), chairman of the House investigating committee, said on NBC’s “Today” this morning that “this is not an instance where a presidential pardon is appropriate, nor is it an instance where he should have an extended sentence.”

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said on CBS’ “This Morning” that while he opposes a pardon, the commutation of a prison sentence would be “totally appropriate.”

Meanwhile, the Marine Corps said today it was being flooded with telephone complaints from Americans over an announcement that North, now a convicted felon, will lose his $1,900 monthly pension.

“My head hurts,” Capt. Liz Kerstens, a Marine Corps spokeswoman at the Pentagon said. “We have been getting calls from all over the country complaining that we are unfair.”

But Marine Corps officials said earlier that, under federal law, North was required to give up his pension after his conviction Thursday.