On this day in 1988, a federal grand jury indicted John Poindexter, the former national security adviser, and Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, an aide serving under Poindexter, on multiple charges of conspiracy, lying to Congress, obstruction of justice and altering and destroying documents. The charges stemmed from investigations by Congress and an independent prosecutor into the Iran-Contra affair.
The affair had begun in 1985, when — in an operation run out of Poindexter’s White House office — the United States supplied weapons to Iran in hopes of securing the release of American hostages held in Lebanon by Hezbollah terrorists loyal to the Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran’s supreme leader.
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Without President Ronald Reagan’s direct knowledge, the administration took the millions of dollars generated by the weapons sale and routed them to Contra guerrillas in Nicaragua. The Contras were battling Nicaragua’s Sandinista-led government in the wake of their overthrow of Anastasio Somoza Debayle, that nation’s long-term dictator.
These secret dealings violated both legislation enacted by the Democratic-led Congress and official administration policies.
Independent Counsel Lawrence Walsh investigated the affair for eight years. All in all, 14 people were charged with either operational or “cover-up” crimes. North, indicted on 16 counts, was found guilty by a jury of three minor counts.
North’s convictions were vacated on appeal on the grounds that his Fifth Amendment rights had been violated by the indirect use of his testimony to Congress, which had been given under a grant of immunity. Poindexter was convicted in April 1990 on five counts including three counts of obstruction and two counts of false statements to Congress. He was sentenced to six months in prison, but his conviction also was overturned.
On Christmas Eve of 1992, President George H.W. Bush issued six pardons to the remaining participants who had either been convicted or, as former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger, still awaited trial.