From: DowJones@andrew.cmu.edu
Newsgroups: soc.culture.mexican
Subject: Prosecutor Considers Calling Weinberger Before Grand Jury
Date: 28 Dec 92 10:41:48 GMT
Article-I.D.: andrew.YfDqOAe00Uj500pE1=
Organization: Doctoral student, Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA


  

  WASHINGTON -AP- Iran-Contra prosecutor Lawrence Walsh is considering
calling Caspar Weinberger before a federal grand jury to testify about
others in the scandal, including President Bush, according to sources
close to the investigation.   

  Walsh said today that he would return shortly to Washington, but refused
to say what his plans are. Yet the sources, speaking on condition of
anonymity, said that he is likely to call former Defense Secretary Weinberger
and ex-CIA official Duane Clarridge as witnesses before a grand jury
here.   

  Both men received Christmas Eve pardons from Bush for allegedly lying
about their knowledge of the arms-for-hostages deals.   

  Before the pardon, neither man was called as a witness because they
were being investigated by the grand jury. They eventually were indicted
and were awaiting trial when they were pardoned.   

  Bush also pardoned four Iran-Contra figures and has since been accused
by critics of trying to hide his own role in the Reagan administration's
secret arms-for-hostages deal.   

  Walsh's spokeswoman, Mary Belcher, said she ''will not comment on any
speculative grand jury action.''   

  Clarridge has never appeared before Walsh's prosecutors and ''I wouldn't
be surprised'' if the former CIA official is called to testify, said
William McDaniel, Clarridge's lawyer.   

  Weinberger lawyer Robert Bennett said his client ''has given all the
information there is to give'' to Congress and Walsh's investigators.
  

  Calling him as a witness would ''just be further evidence of their
harassment of him,'' said Bennett.   

  The sources said prosecutors would question Weinberger extensively
on his handwritten notes from 1985 and 1986 _ with particular emphasis
on meetings that Bush attended. Prosecutors didn't uncover Weinberger's
notes until 1990, and this would be their first opportunity to question
him about them.   

  After the pardons, Walsh said that Bush is a ''subject'' in the Iran-Contra
investigation because he failed to turn over his own notes to prosecutors.
A ''subject'' is someone whose activities are under scrutiny in a criminal
investigation.   

  The White House didn't notify Walsh until Dec. 11 that it had Bush's
typewritten notes _ which the then-vice president began dictating in
November 1986 as the Iran-Contra affair was erupting.   

  A grand jury appearance by Clarridge would renew questions about the
CIA's role in the affair, particularly a CIA-assisted shipment of Hawk
missiles to Iran in November 1985 that Weinberger was accused of lying
about, said the sources.   

  Clarridge is mentioned frequently in ex-White House aide Oliver North's
notebooks regarding the Iran arms sales and support for the Contras -
the Nicaraguan guerrilla force that Congress had barred the CIA from
assisting militarily.   

  The sources said that Walsh also will decide whether to look into the
circumstances surrounding the Weinberger pardon.   

  Bush may have granted the pardon to avoid being called into court to
explain his own role in Iran-Contra, prosecutor James J. Brosnahan said
over the weekend.   

  Bennett called Brosnahan's suggestion ''nonsense'' and ''sour grapes.''
He said Monday that he had had no intention of calling Bush.    
    3:41 PM