Sunday, May 24, 2020

Donald Biden & Joe Trump say let the good times roll




if memory serves correctly









Former President Ronald Reagan, in testimony made public Thursday, said he had no recollection of ever being told that profits from Iran weapons sales were diverted to the Nicaraguan contras, and that he ''never had any inkling'' White Houseaide Oliver North was secretly helping the guerrillas.
Reagan, who was subpoenaed by the defense in the upcoming trial of his onetime national security adviser, John Poindexter, neither clearly exonerated Poindexter nor critically undermined his defense. Nor did his videotaped testimony do much to answer questions about who authorized the diversion at a time when such aid to the contras was illegal.
But his deposition did reveal startling gaps in the memory of the 79-year-old former president. In all, Reagan said ''I don`t recall'' or ''I can`t remember'' 88 times in the eight hours of testimony taken Feb. 16-17 in Los Angeles.
At one point, Reagan said he could not identify Gen. John Vessey, who served for more than three years as his chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. At other times, he said he could not identify a picture of contra leader Adolfo Calero, could not recall a shipment of Hawk missiles to Iran in November 1985, had no memory of signing one presidential finding relating to the shipment of weapons to Iran and had only the slightest recollection of signing a second such finding.


He also appeared hazy on the identity of Eugene Hasenfus, an American whose shooting down over Nicaragua helped precipitate the unraveling of the then-secret Iran-contra operation. And Reagan seemed totally unable to recall what the Tower Commission-a panel he appointed in December 1986 to investigate the affair-said in its report three months later.
Despite concerns that some material would have to be withheld from the public because of national security considerations, the judge released the entire transcript of the deposition once the Bush administration said it saw no need for deletions.
In defense of his sporadic recollections, Reagan said that he had been told by statisticians that he met on the average with about 80 people a day for eight years and that 50 million pieces of paper accumulated during his presidency.
Reagan was clear and emphatic, however, on his dedication to the anti-communist contras, explaining his belief that the Soviet Union planned to


''take Eastern Europe . . . organize the hordes of Asia and . . . move on to Latin America. And once having taken that . . . the United States would fall into their outstretched hand like overripe fruit.''
The deposition was the former president`s first testimony under oath about his knowledge of the Iran-contra affair.
The testimony also represents the first time a U.S. president has testified about his own conduct in office in connection with a criminal trial. President Gerald Ford provided videotaped testimony in the trial of Lynette
''Squeaky'' Fromme, who tried to assassinate him, and President Jimmy Carter gave videotaped depositions in two criminal trials and a grand jury investigation.


Wearing a dark suit with white shirt and dark tie, Reagan looked much like his presidential days, his hair grown back from minor brain surgery last year but showing a gray patch near the right temple.
Reagan was sworn in and, like any other witness, spelled his last name for the court reporter. He looked mildly nervous when U.S. District Judge Harold Greene thanked him for appearing despite the inconvenience, but seemed to relax when he recounted his background as a former president, California governor and actor.
''Prior to working in the movie business, I was a sports announcer in radio,'' he said.
Despite the objections of all parties in the case, Greene ordered the release of a 293-page transcript of the deposition and allowed reporters and members of the public to view a videoptape of it before the trial. But the judge said news organizations could not have copies of the videotapes until after they were played at the trial, because premature widespread showing could jeopardize Poindexter`s right to a fair and impartial jury.
Poindexter, who testified during the 1987 Iran-contra congressional hearings that he never told Reagan about the diversion scheme to allow the president ''plausible deniability,'' sat in the courtroom during Reagan`s deposition.
Poindexter, who is charged with lying to Congress, obstruction of Congress and conspiracy, is scheduled to go on trial March 5. His defense appears to rest on the theory that Reagan either approved of or knew about his aides` secret activities on the contras` behalf.
Reagan denied any knowledge of the diversion. But he also emphasized that he repeatedly told his staff he wanted to help the contras in any way possible as long as no one broke the law.
There was a certain deference throughout the deposition proceedings, with Greene and the lawyers addressing Reagan as ''Mr. President.'' Richard Beckler, Poindexter`s lead attorney, who can be combative in court, was generally low-key in his questioning.
But Dan Webb, the former U.S. attorney in Chicago who is prosecuting the case for the independent counsel`s office, sparred with Reagan several times over whether he knew about or approved the diversion of funds to the contras or the destruction of government records about the scheme.
At one point, a clearly agitated Reagan said, ''for heaven`s sake, no!''
when Webb asked if he had approved or authorized a diversion of funds in violation of a law banning any such aid. But, he added, ''no one has proven to me that there was a diversion.''
He also said Poindexter should have told him about any diversion ''if he knew about it . . . unless maybe he thought he was protecting me from something.''
Reagan said he did not recall the Tower Commission`s reporting that North and the National Security Council were providing military aid to the contras, who were waging war against Nicaragua`s Sandinista government. When asked whether the panel ever explained how the U.S. received more than $12.2 million it was owed for a shipment of TOW anti-tank missiles to Iran, and how excess profits might have been diverted, he said he didn`t think it was explained.
When Webb said the answer was ''completely unresponsive,'' Reagan shot back, ''I don`t think it is unresponsive to state what I appointed the commission to do and what I tried to get from them, and they could not supply that information until this day.''
Reagan said prosecutors for the first time were bringing to his attention the Tower Commission`s reference to a diversion.
''This is the first time I have ever seen that,'' Reagan said.
President Bush`s national security adviser, Brent Scowcroft, who also was a member of the Tower Commission, said Thursday that Reagan had been briefed on the report at the time. White House reporters recalled that when the report was released in February 1987, Reagan held a copy aloft and said he planned to take it to Camp Davidto study.
As for North`s participating in the illegal scheme to aid the contras, Reagan said, ''I never had any inkling'' such a thing was going on.
He also said he and North ''did not meet frequently or anything of that kind, nor do I remember ever having a single meeting with him, as has been hinted at times by others.''
In trying to explain his faulty memory, Reagan said at one point that his administration was concerned with more than ''this Iranian issue.''
''That was just one of many things that were going on,'' he said. ''The government was involved in things of great import, not only having to do with domestic problems, but with the Cold War and things of that kind, and trying to arrive at treaties with regard to nuclear weapons and so forth.''
Perhaps the most startling lapse in Reagan`s memory involved Vessey, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1982 to 1985.
His name arose when Beckler referred to a Central American trip made by Vessey and then asked Reagan to explain who Vessey was.
''Oh, dear,'' the former president said. ''I could ask for help here. The name I know is very familiar . . .''
At Vessey`s retirement in 1985, Reagan said to the army general, ''A career like yours, combining as it does heroism, patriotism, competence, wisdom and kindness, doesn`t need elaboration from commanders in chief or presidents. It speaks enough all by itself, and today I`ll let history be your valedictorian, not me.''
Copyright © 2020, Chicago Tribune
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