North to Testify He Lied for Poindexter, Jurors Are Told

Oliver L. North will testify that he “lied . . . lied . . . lied” to Congress about the Iran-Contra affair on instructions from John M. Poindexter, a prosecutor said today in opening statements at Poindexter’s trial.

“North was not out there as a Lone Ranger over this multimillion-dollar enterprise” to assist the Nicaraguan rebels, Iran-Contra prosecutor Dan Webb told a jury of seven women and five men. “Defendant John Poindexter was right in the middle of” it.

Webb told the jury that North, the government’s leadoff witness, “will tell you” that after being “instructed by Poindexter,” he met with then-House Intelligence Committee Chairman Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.) on Aug. 6, 1986.

At that meeting, North “was asked question after question” about whether he was raising money and providing military assistance to the Contras, Webb said. “Specific names were used, places.”

Webb, previewing North’s upcoming testimony, said: “He lied, he lied, he lied, one false statement after another.”

“Every answer he gave is false. It worked like a charm,” Webb said. Hamilton later told Poindexter to “thank North for being so helpful.”

After Poindexter got a memo summarizing the meeting, “What does he do? He congratulates” North with a note saying, “Well done,” Webb related.

At his trial last year, North admitted that he lied during the Aug. 6, 1986, meeting, but said he did not know he was breaking the law when he did so.

North testified then that he did not want to meet with the lawmakers but that Poindexter insisted, telling North, “You can handle it. . . . You can take care of it.”

North was acquitted of the charge pertaining to the Aug. 6, 1986, meeting but was convicted of three others. They are aiding and abetting an obstruction of Congress, altering and destroying National Security Council documents and accepting a $13,800 home security system from Richard V. Secord.

Webb, speaking at the beginning of a trial that is expected to last six to eight weeks, said, “John Poindexter agreed to let North go over and lie to Congress.”