Chapter 28
George Bush
George Bush served as vice president through the Reagan presidency from 1981 to 1989. In January 1989, he succeeded Reagan as President. It was in his capacity as President that Bush committed what will likely become his most memorable act in connection with Iran/contra. On December 24, 1992, twelve days before former Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger was to go to trial, Bush pardoned him.1 In issuing pardons to Weinberger and five other Iran/contra defendants, President Bush charged that Independent Counsel’s prosecutions represented the “criminalization of policy differences.”
1 President Bush also pardoned former National Security Adviser Robert C. McFarlane, former Assistant Secretary of State Elliott Abrams, former CIA Central American Task Force Chief Alan D. Fiers, Jr., former CIA Deputy Director for Operations Clair E. George, and former CIA Counter-Terrorism Chief Duane R. Clarridge. The Weinberger pardon marked the first time a President ever pardoned someone in whose trial he might have been called as a witness, because the President was knowledgeable of factual events underlying the case.
The criminal investigation of Bush was regrettably incomplete. Before Bush’s election as President, the investigation was primarily concerned with the operational conspiracy and the careful evaluation of the cases against former National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter and Lt. Col. Oliver L. North of the National Security Council staff, prior to their indictment in March 1988. This included a review of any exculpatory material that might have shown authorization for their conduct. In the course of this investigation, Vice President Bush was deposed on January 11, 1988.
A year later Bush was President-elect, and OIC was engaged in the intensive preparation for the trial of North, which began on January 31, 1989. After the completion of the trials of North and Poindexter and the pleas of guilty of retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard V. Secord and Albert Hakim, OIC broadened its investigation to those supporting and supervising Poindexter and North. This investigation developed a large amount of new material with which it intended to question President Bush. His interrogation was left to the end because, as President, he obviously could not be questioned repeatedly. It was Independent Counsel’s expectation that he would be available after the completion of the 1992 Presidential election campaign. https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/walsh/chap_28.htm
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| John Poindexter | |
|---|---|
| 13th United States National Security Advisor | |
| In office December 4, 1985 – November 25, 1986 | |
| President | Ronald Reagan |
| Preceded by | Robert McFarlane |
| Succeeded by | Frank Carlucci |
| 13th United States Deputy National Security Advisor | |
| In office October 17, 1983 – December 4, 1985 | |
| President | Ronald Reagan |
| Preceded by | Robert McFarlane |
| Succeeded by | Donald Fortier |
| Personal details | |
| Born | John Marlan Poindexter August 12, 1936 (age 86) Odon, Indiana, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Linda Poindexter |
| Children | 5, including Dex |
| Education | United States Naval Academy (BS) California Institute of Technology (MS, PhD) |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch/service |  United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1958–1987 |
| Rank | Vice Admiral Retired as a Rear Admiral |
| Commands | USS England Destroyer Squadron 31 |
| Awards | Legion of Merit (2) Presidential Service Badge |
John Marlan Poindexter (born August 12, 1936) is a retired United States naval officer and Department of Defense official. He was Deputy National Security Advisor and National Security Advisor during the Reagan administration. He was convicted in April 1990 of multiple felonies as a result of his actions in the Iran–Contra affair, but his convictions were reversed on appeal in 1991. During the George W. Bush administration, he served a brief stint as the director of the DARPA Information Awareness Office. He is the father of NASA astronaut and U.S. Navy Captain Alan G. Poindexter.
Poindexter was born in Odon, Indiana, the son of Ellen (Sommers) and Marlan G. Poindexter.[1] He received his undergraduate degree from the United States Naval Academy in 1958, where he graduated first in a class of 899.[2] His fellow graduates included astronaut Bruce McCandless II (who graduated second) and Senator John McCain; previous National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane was a contemporary, graduating the following year.
Poindexter received an MS (1961) and PhD (1964) in nuclear physics from the California Institute of Technology. For his dissertation, he conducted laboratory research to develop further a model for understanding the Mössbauer effect with Nobel Laureate Rudolf Mössbauer.
In light of his access to information, Bush would have been an important witness. In an early interview with the FBI in December 1986 and in the OIC deposition in January 1988, Bush acknowledged that he was regularly informed of events connected with the Iran arms sales, including the 1985 Israeli missile shipments.2 These statements conflicted with his more extreme public assertions that he was “out of the loop” regarding the operational details of the Iran initiative and was generally unaware of the strong opposition to the arms sales by Secretary of Defense Weinberger and Secretary of State George P. Shultz. He denied knowledge of the diversion of proceeds from the arms sales to assist the contras.3 He also denied knowledge of the secret contra-resupply operation supervised by North.4
2 Bush, FBI 302, 12/12/86; Bush, OIC Deposition, 1/11/88. But Bush’s recollection was very general and he did not recall specific details of meetings in which the Iran arms sales were discussed.
3 Bush, FBI 302, 12/12/86, p. 3; Bush, OIC Deposition, 1/11/88, p. 17. During his interview with the FBI, Bush said he would be willing to take a polygraph examination concerning his lack of prior knowledge of the diversion.
4 Bush, OIC Deposition, 1/11/88, p. 154.
In 1991 and 1992, Independent Counsel uncovered important evidence in the form of withheld documents and contemporaneous notes that raised significant questions about the earlier accounts provided by high Administration officials. The personal diary of Vice President Bush was disclosed to Independent Counsel only in December 1992, despite early and repeated requests for such documents. This late disclosure prompted a special investigation into why the diary had not been produced previously, and the substance of the diary.
Following the pardons, Bush refused to be interviewed unless the interview was limited to his non-production of his diary and personal notes. Because such a limited deposition would not serve a basic investigative purpose and because its occurrence would give the misleading impression of cooperation where there was none, Independent Counsel declined to accept these conditions. A Grand Jury subpoena was not issued because OIC did not believe there was an appropriate likelihood of a criminal prosecution. Bush’s notes themselves proved not as significant as those of Weinberger and Shultz aides Charles Hill and Nicholas Platt, and the statute of limitations had passed on most of the relevant acts and statements of Bush.
Dynastic Successions Book 
