Reagan Subpoena Called ‘Unreasonable’

Former President Ronald Reagan’s attorneys asked a federal judge Wednesday to quash a subpoena demanding that he produce documents for the Iran-Contra trial of John M. Poindexter.

The lawyers said the subpoena from the former national security adviser seeking documents on 67 different topics--including personal diaries--is “unreasonable and oppressive” and should be narrowed.

Poindexter is seeking “notebooks, diary entries and . . . personal notes in former President Reagan’s possession,” the lawyers said.

The subpoena “raises profound constitutional concerns regarding . . . the prerogative generally of the President of the United States to maintain a purely personal and private record of his thoughts and reflections,” Reagan’s lawyers said in a 35-page court filing.

The court filing emphasized, however, that it would be premature to address constitutional questions at this stage of the proceedings.

Instead, Reagan said that Poindexter’s subpoena “is a broad-gauge discovery device masquerading as a trial subpoena.”

Until Poindexter has “demonstrated that the evidence he seeks is relevant and material, central to his defense and not available elsewhere or through less intrusive means,” the subpoena should be quashed, Reagan’s court filing said.

The contents of the subpoena are classified. But the former national security adviser, scheduled to go on trial Jan. 22, has said Reagan’s notes and diaries would show that the President authorized many of the activities for which Poindexter now is charged with crimes.

U.S. District Judge Harold Greene approved Poindexter’s subpoenas for Reagan’s records on Nov. 16. Wednesday was the deadline for Reagan to either turn over the documents or file a motion to scrap the subpoenas.

Poindexter is charged with one count of conspiracy, two counts of obstructing Congress and two counts of making false statements in the Iran-Contra affair.

Earlier Wednesday, the judge rejected a request by Poindexter to subpoena records from 65 U.S. senators and representatives.

Also, Greene denied as overly broad Poindexter’s request to issue subpoenas to a number of congressional committees, the office of White House counsel and the National Security Agency.