WEBVTT - Iran Contra: Episode 5 - All Out 0:00:16.271 --> 0:00:32.311 Pushkin. On Thursday, November thirteenth, nineteen eighty six, Ronald Reagan 0:00:32.351 --> 0:00:35.271 opened his maroon leather bound diary and jotted down a 0:00:35.271 --> 0:00:38.151 few thoughts about his day. He was in the middle 0:00:38.191 --> 0:00:41.511 of a firestorm, he wrote, caused by the ridiculous falsehoods 0:00:41.551 --> 0:00:45.751 the media has been spawning. The firestorm had been ignited 0:00:45.830 --> 0:00:50.951 by two separate scandals. First, there was Eugene Hasenfuss, the 0:00:50.991 --> 0:00:54.071 former marine whose plane had been shot down over Nicaragua 0:00:54.071 --> 0:00:55.271 by a Sandinista soldier. 0:00:55.511 --> 0:00:57.751 It has all the makings of a major new uproar. 0:00:57.911 --> 0:01:00.590 The US may have violated a ban on a to 0:01:00.631 --> 0:01:01.231 the Contras. 0:01:01.351 --> 0:01:04.511 The Hasenfuss crash seemed to confirm that the Reagan administration 0:01:04.831 --> 0:01:07.751 was yet again evading the law that prohibited the US 0:01:07.831 --> 0:01:09.751 government from funding the Contra rebels. 0:01:10.151 --> 0:01:12.791 The White House has had full knowledge of this Contra 0:01:12.911 --> 0:01:15.071 cargo plane operation for more than a year. 0:01:16.471 --> 0:01:19.071 Then, about a month later, the White House was hit 0:01:19.151 --> 0:01:22.031 with a seemingly unrelated story about arms trafficking in a 0:01:22.071 --> 0:01:26.431 different foreign country. According to an article in a Lebanese magazine, 0:01:26.551 --> 0:01:30.831 the US was selling missiles to Iran. Subsequent reports alleged 0:01:30.831 --> 0:01:33.511 that the arrangement was part of an arms for hostages swamp. 0:01:33.751 --> 0:01:37.311 Iran has helped the United States free hostage from Lebanon, 0:01:37.591 --> 0:01:40.871 and the US is helping Iran in its war with Iraq. 0:01:41.031 --> 0:01:44.271 In his diary, Reagan referred to the controversy as the 0:01:44.311 --> 0:01:48.031 Iran incident that was a lot more innocuous than what 0:01:48.111 --> 0:01:50.111 people outside the administration were, calling. 0:01:49.951 --> 0:01:53.351 It a very dangerous precedent negotiating with terrorists. 0:01:52.951 --> 0:01:55.431 Escapades, and I think that is the word is simply 0:01:55.471 --> 0:01:58.951 a misreading of Iranian political realities, and therefore it's dumb. 0:02:01.871 --> 0:02:06.431 The Iran news instantly eclipsed Eugene Hasenfuss and Nicaragua. It 0:02:06.511 --> 0:02:09.111 just wasn't that surprising that Reagan still wanted to support 0:02:09.151 --> 0:02:12.591 the contras. The arms for hostages story, on the other hand, 0:02:12.871 --> 0:02:16.150 seemed to come out of nowhere, and it flatly contradicted 0:02:16.151 --> 0:02:20.071 Reagan's stated policies of not negotiating with terrorists and opposing 0:02:20.151 --> 0:02:23.791 the sale of weapons to Iran. The outcry was unlike 0:02:23.831 --> 0:02:25.951 anything the Reagan White House had ever faced. 0:02:26.431 --> 0:02:29.711 For six years round Reagan was the Teflon president. 0:02:30.231 --> 0:02:33.631 That's Peter Wallson. In nineteen eighty six, he was serving 0:02:33.671 --> 0:02:36.791 as White House counsel, a job that involved advising the 0:02:36.831 --> 0:02:40.391 president on what was and wasn't legal. Wallison says that 0:02:40.471 --> 0:02:42.671 scandals just didn't seem to stick to Reagan through most 0:02:42.711 --> 0:02:45.791 of his presidency, but the Iran story was different. 0:02:46.551 --> 0:02:49.871 There was so little official information coming out, only leaks 0:02:50.311 --> 0:02:53.951 from various places and people who had some knowledge of it, 0:02:54.271 --> 0:02:57.351 either abroad or in the United States. So it was 0:02:57.431 --> 0:03:00.271 an enormous media firestorm. 0:03:00.431 --> 0:03:03.911 Initially, Reagan tried to just ride it out, even as 0:03:03.951 --> 0:03:08.151 advisers urged him to publicly address the controversy. Finally, a 0:03:08.191 --> 0:03:11.231 week after American media picked up the arms for hostages story, 0:03:11.751 --> 0:03:15.871 Reagan agreed to deliver a televised speech. First order of business, 0:03:15.911 --> 0:03:18.071 he wrote in his diary, I will go on TV 0:03:18.231 --> 0:03:19.351 at eight pm tonight. 0:03:20.431 --> 0:03:23.471 President Reagan is addressing the nation this evening to set 0:03:23.511 --> 0:03:26.031 the record straight as the White House put it on 0:03:26.111 --> 0:03:29.271 relations where they ran, and efforts to free you as hostages. 0:03:29.631 --> 0:03:32.511 Peter Wallason is one of the White House staffers responsible 0:03:32.511 --> 0:03:33.391 for writing the speech. 0:03:33.991 --> 0:03:37.151 We were supposed to explain what all these newspaper reports 0:03:37.191 --> 0:03:41.271 were about, all this media coverage. But the idea was 0:03:41.391 --> 0:03:46.551 to try to explain, I suppose what it was that 0:03:46.711 --> 0:03:49.311 happened in a way that showed that it was innocent. 0:03:54.591 --> 0:03:57.951 But as Wallason and the other speechwriters discovered, the facts 0:03:57.991 --> 0:04:00.391 of the arm shipments were not easy to nail down. 0:04:01.471 --> 0:04:04.271 Here's Jane Mayer, a reporter at The New Yorker and 0:04:04.311 --> 0:04:05.991 co author of the book Landslide. 0:04:06.711 --> 0:04:11.871 What becomes clear is that the as that are most 0:04:11.911 --> 0:04:17.630 involved in this scandal are conspiring with each other to 0:04:17.711 --> 0:04:20.510 come up with cover stories that will get themselves off 0:04:20.551 --> 0:04:24.951 the hook. But in order to do that, they need 0:04:24.950 --> 0:04:27.190 to kind of get the President to lie for them. 0:04:27.751 --> 0:04:30.791 Some sources within the administration tell us somewhat different story 0:04:30.831 --> 0:04:33.630 than the one the president will tell tonight. One such source, 0:04:33.671 --> 0:04:37.031 familiar with the president's speech, said, we are now engaged 0:04:37.071 --> 0:04:38.231 in rewriting history. 0:04:38.711 --> 0:04:42.791 This is all putting the president in great peril, and 0:04:43.071 --> 0:04:47.271 it rings a familiar bell to at least a couple people. 0:04:47.831 --> 0:04:49.911 They remember Watergate. 0:04:50.431 --> 0:04:51.751 Here's Peter Wallason again. 0:04:52.751 --> 0:04:58.111 After Watergate, we all understood that the cover up could 0:04:58.151 --> 0:05:01.551 be worse than the crime itself. 0:05:02.631 --> 0:05:05.111 Reagan's speech was going to be an opportunity to send 0:05:05.191 --> 0:05:08.751 a clear signal he was not trying to cover anything up. 0:05:10.751 --> 0:05:14.431 NBC's regular Thursday night schedule beginning with the Cosby Show 0:05:14.831 --> 0:05:17.991 will be seen immediately following President Reagan's address on most 0:05:17.991 --> 0:05:19.351 of these stations. 0:05:19.951 --> 0:05:23.471 At eight p m. On November thirteenth, Reagan sat down 0:05:23.471 --> 0:05:26.391 at his desk in the Oval Office, looked into the camera, 0:05:26.951 --> 0:05:28.951 and tried to explain himself. 0:05:29.751 --> 0:05:30.311 Good evening. 0:05:31.831 --> 0:05:33.791 I wanted this time to talk with you about an 0:05:33.791 --> 0:05:38.151 extremely sensitive and profoundly important matter of foreign policy. For 0:05:38.191 --> 0:05:41.351 eighteen months now, we have had underway a secret diplomatic 0:05:41.391 --> 0:05:45.391 initiative to Iran. That initiative was undertaken for the simplest 0:05:45.391 --> 0:05:48.391 and best of reasons, to renew a relationship with the 0:05:48.511 --> 0:05:51.271 nation of Iran, to bring an honorable end of the 0:05:51.271 --> 0:05:54.991 bloody six year war between Iran and Iraq, to eliminate 0:05:55.031 --> 0:05:59.071 state sponsored terrorism and subversion, and to effect the safe 0:05:59.071 --> 0:06:00.471 return of all hostages. 0:06:01.631 --> 0:06:04.831 There it was confirmation of the arm sales to Iran 0:06:04.951 --> 0:06:08.751 to effect the safe return of all the hostages. Except 0:06:08.991 --> 0:06:11.911 a minute later, Reagan also said this. 0:06:12.431 --> 0:06:14.671 The charge has been made that the United States has 0:06:14.711 --> 0:06:18.111 shipped weapons to Iran as ransom payment for the release 0:06:18.151 --> 0:06:22.551 of American hostages in Lebanon. Those charges are utterly false. 0:06:23.511 --> 0:06:24.791 The United States has not. 0:06:24.911 --> 0:06:26.950 The speech did not play well with viewers. 0:06:27.231 --> 0:06:29.711 It is a new experience for the president. He goes 0:06:29.751 --> 0:06:31.791 on television to tell the nation he has never sent 0:06:31.831 --> 0:06:35.111 any arms to Iran in exchange for American hostages, and 0:06:35.231 --> 0:06:38.231 twenty four hours later, the country is far from convinced. 0:06:38.391 --> 0:06:41.071 An ABC News poll found that fifty six percent of 0:06:41.111 --> 0:06:43.591 Americans thought the President was lying when he said there 0:06:43.591 --> 0:06:47.431 had not been in arms for hostages deal. Suddenly, Reagan 0:06:47.471 --> 0:06:52.791 was in an unfamiliar position. People just didn't trust him. 0:06:52.911 --> 0:06:56.711 There was criticism of the President's explanations from both Republicans 0:06:56.711 --> 0:06:58.151 and Democrats in Congress. 0:06:58.311 --> 0:06:59.591 Is the President lying? 0:06:59.951 --> 0:07:02.711 They may think there was no quid pro quoll. I 0:07:02.751 --> 0:07:05.271 can't believe that the Iranians didn't think there was any 0:07:05.311 --> 0:07:06.070 quid pro quoll. 0:07:07.071 --> 0:07:09.951 This was not how people usually talked about Ronald Reagan. 0:07:10.511 --> 0:07:12.711 It cut against everything that was appealing about him as 0:07:12.711 --> 0:07:13.351 a politician. 0:07:13.871 --> 0:07:18.551 In Watergate, Nixon was always seen as a schemer. You know, 0:07:18.631 --> 0:07:24.311 his nickname was tricky Dick. Reagan was the opposite. He 0:07:24.351 --> 0:07:27.111 was sort of sunny, and he didn't seem like the 0:07:27.151 --> 0:07:30.471 type would be able to come up with this incredibly 0:07:30.591 --> 0:07:33.351 complicated scheme and lie to the American public. 0:07:36.551 --> 0:07:39.791 In the wake of Reagan's speech. White House communications director 0:07:39.871 --> 0:07:44.111 Pat Buchanan Yes that. Pat Buchanan decided to reach out 0:07:44.111 --> 0:07:46.911 to a former colleague he thought might have some advice. 0:07:47.151 --> 0:07:51.111 And he called up Nixon himself and asked Nixon for 0:07:51.151 --> 0:07:52.431 his advice. What should they do? 0:07:53.071 --> 0:07:54.191 Yes that Nixon. 0:07:54.631 --> 0:07:58.951 Nixon said, don't do the cover up. Get out the 0:07:59.031 --> 0:08:01.991 facts as much as you can, and say you've made 0:08:02.031 --> 0:08:05.071 a mistake, and the public will accept that. 0:08:06.111 --> 0:08:09.591 Buchanan brought Nixon's advice to the White House, but Reagan 0:08:09.711 --> 0:08:11.951 was not prepared to admit that he had made a mistake. 0:08:13.151 --> 0:08:16.871 There wasn't anything to apologize for. He insisted he hadn't 0:08:16.871 --> 0:08:22.911 done anything wrong. I'm leon Nyfok from Prologue Projects and 0:08:22.991 --> 0:08:26.711 Pushkin Industries. This is fiasco, Iran Contra. 0:08:27.111 --> 0:08:29.511 The country is being asked to believe some things that 0:08:29.551 --> 0:08:30.471 are hard to swallow. 0:08:30.551 --> 0:08:34.311 Something's happening here that looks a lot like Watergate, that being. 0:08:34.191 --> 0:08:36.031 A complete orgy of shredding. 0:08:36.351 --> 0:08:38.711 I realized that I'd missed the whole story. 0:08:38.790 --> 0:08:40.751 I directed the Attorney General, who wanted to take a 0:08:40.831 --> 0:08:41.710 review of this matter. 0:08:41.831 --> 0:08:45.030 The President knew nothing about it until I reported it 0:08:45.070 --> 0:08:47.071 to him. I alerted him yesterday morning Boo. 0:08:46.950 --> 0:08:49.711 In the administration knew what was going on, and when. 0:08:52.830 --> 0:08:57.350 Episode five all out how the Reagan White House tried 0:08:57.391 --> 0:09:00.830 to stop their Iran problem from becoming a second Watergate. 0:09:06.190 --> 0:09:14.071 We'll be right back after the President's speech from the 0:09:14.070 --> 0:09:16.830 Oval Office, the White House schedule the follow up press 0:09:16.830 --> 0:09:20.151 conference about the Iran issue. Maybe his first speech had 0:09:20.190 --> 0:09:21.111 just been too confusing. 0:09:21.550 --> 0:09:24.670 It is argued to this very political city that President 0:09:24.670 --> 0:09:27.391 Reagan's televised news conference tonight in the midst of the 0:09:27.471 --> 0:09:30.871 Iran affair, will be the most important of his presidency. 0:09:31.310 --> 0:09:34.551 There are many unanswered questions about the most visibly difficult 0:09:34.550 --> 0:09:35.310 problem since. 0:09:35.111 --> 0:09:38.790 He was elected once again, Reagan's aides were divided over 0:09:38.830 --> 0:09:41.350 how he should present the facts within the next Should 0:09:41.391 --> 0:09:43.711 he say as little as possible and keep insisting that 0:09:43.751 --> 0:09:46.831 everything had been above board, or should he admit that 0:09:46.871 --> 0:09:48.951 the missile sales were part of an arms for hostages 0:09:48.991 --> 0:09:53.230 deal and apologize. One of the people advocating for the 0:09:53.271 --> 0:09:56.990 come clean approach was Reagan's Secretary of State, George Schultz. 0:09:57.391 --> 0:09:59.511 Get it all out, as I said, Morts and all, 0:10:00.430 --> 0:10:02.750 and then they'll graduate get behind you. 0:10:03.391 --> 0:10:05.910 Schultz died in twenty twenty one at the age of 0:10:05.950 --> 0:10:09.151 one hundred. When I interviewed him, he was ninety eight 0:10:09.190 --> 0:10:12.910 and living in californ And though he served under Nixon, 0:10:13.511 --> 0:10:16.271 he insisted to me that his advice to Reagan wasn't 0:10:16.351 --> 0:10:18.511 informed by his experience of Watergate. 0:10:19.550 --> 0:10:23.910 No, I wasn't really thinking about Watergate. President Reagan's standing 0:10:24.111 --> 0:10:28.991 was totally different from Richard Nixon's. People loved Reagan and 0:10:29.030 --> 0:10:31.271 respected him a great deal, and they knew he was 0:10:31.310 --> 0:10:32.231 a man of principle. 0:10:32.910 --> 0:10:36.511 As Secretary of State, Schultz had strongly opposed the idea 0:10:36.550 --> 0:10:39.991 of selling missiles to Iran. He had advocated against it 0:10:40.070 --> 0:10:41.670 during multiple meetings with the President. 0:10:42.310 --> 0:10:45.670 I was opposed to it from the beginning, and I 0:10:45.670 --> 0:10:49.750 always felt somehow it would wind up leaking out. My 0:10:49.871 --> 0:10:52.151 fear was that we were selling arms to Iran and 0:10:52.231 --> 0:10:54.790 Iran was up to no good. It was a mistake. 0:10:58.030 --> 0:11:01.071 Clearly, pushing back against the arms deals in private had 0:11:01.111 --> 0:11:04.910 not worked. Now that the story was out, Schultz was 0:11:04.991 --> 0:11:07.631 surprisingly willing to push back in public too. 0:11:07.991 --> 0:11:11.751 Secretary of State Schultz continued distancing himself from the trading 0:11:11.751 --> 0:11:13.030 of weapons or hostages. 0:11:13.271 --> 0:11:16.710 Shultz said he thought that not negotiating with terrorists is 0:11:16.790 --> 0:11:20.271 the right policy asked about official silence on the reports 0:11:20.310 --> 0:11:23.591 of dealings where Iran. Schultz later said, I don't particularly 0:11:23.710 --> 0:11:25.550 enjoy it. I like to say what I think. 0:11:25.991 --> 0:11:29.910 As the scandal intensified, Schultz went unfaced the nation. In 0:11:29.950 --> 0:11:32.750 an interview with Leslie Stall, he made clear that he 0:11:32.871 --> 0:11:34.991 was out of sync with other members of the administration. 0:11:35.590 --> 0:11:38.470 Will there be any more arm shipments to Iran, either 0:11:38.511 --> 0:11:41.391 directly by the United States or through any third parties? 0:11:42.190 --> 0:11:46.111 Under the circumstances if Iran's were with Iraq, its pursuit 0:11:46.190 --> 0:11:50.070 of terrorism, its association with those holding our hostages, I 0:11:50.151 --> 0:11:52.951 would certainly say, as far as I am concerned, No. 0:11:53.910 --> 0:11:57.350 Do you have the authority to speak for the entire administration? 0:11:58.511 --> 0:11:58.591 No. 0:11:59.830 --> 0:12:03.751 Schultz's interview enraged his colleagues in the administration and set 0:12:03.790 --> 0:12:06.950 off another round of speculation about chaos in the White House. 0:12:07.471 --> 0:12:08.831 You're not going to resign, are you? 0:12:09.151 --> 0:12:11.551 For the State Department? They're saying the Secretary wants a 0:12:11.550 --> 0:12:14.391 firm commitment no more arms will be sent to Iran, 0:12:14.631 --> 0:12:18.471 and shows will be included in future deliberations. 0:12:20.030 --> 0:12:22.790 Now, Reagan wouldn't just have to clear the air about 0:12:22.910 --> 0:12:25.830 arm shipments. When he gave his press conference, he would 0:12:25.871 --> 0:12:28.831 likely face questions about whether his administration was coming apart 0:12:28.910 --> 0:12:32.511 under the weight of the scandal. To prepare, the President 0:12:32.590 --> 0:12:35.550 enlisted the help of some of his top aides, including 0:12:35.670 --> 0:12:37.710 National Security Advisor John Poindexter. 0:12:38.751 --> 0:12:40.910 We knew from the beginning it would be difficult to 0:12:40.991 --> 0:12:48.550 explain to the American people the detailed rationale. The problem, 0:12:48.830 --> 0:12:54.230 in my mind, was associating the arms with the hostages. 0:12:55.030 --> 0:12:58.271 Poindexter wanted the President to explain that the missiles weren't 0:12:58.351 --> 0:13:01.551 really a ransom payment for the hostages. They were part 0:13:01.590 --> 0:13:06.271 of something bigger. As you'll remember for Episode four, Poindexter 0:13:06.351 --> 0:13:08.790 believed that the ultimate goal of the initiative was to 0:13:08.830 --> 0:13:12.631 make inroads with moderates in the Iranian government. The point 0:13:12.631 --> 0:13:14.631 of the missiles was to show the Iranians that the 0:13:14.710 --> 0:13:17.631 US was operating in good faith. The release of the 0:13:17.631 --> 0:13:20.231 hostages was supposed to show the US that the Iranians 0:13:20.231 --> 0:13:20.671 were too. 0:13:21.670 --> 0:13:27.271 Our sale of arms to Iran was an indication, we thought, 0:13:27.710 --> 0:13:31.511 to Iran that the President was serious about this, and 0:13:32.550 --> 0:13:37.071 there causing the release of hostis by proxy was an 0:13:37.190 --> 0:13:40.631 indication of honesty and earnestness on their part. 0:13:41.310 --> 0:13:44.591 One problem with Poindexter's explanation was that Reagan cared a 0:13:44.631 --> 0:13:46.951 lot more about the hostages than he did about the 0:13:46.991 --> 0:13:51.351 broader geopolitical strategy. Another problem was that the president didn't 0:13:51.430 --> 0:13:53.470 seem to have a firm grasp on what had happened 0:13:53.830 --> 0:13:56.230 or what he had personally approved. 0:13:56.790 --> 0:14:02.830 Before the president's press conference, what we called a murder 0:14:02.871 --> 0:14:06.030 board in the White House theater. 0:14:06.590 --> 0:14:09.351 The murder board was essentially a rehearsal for the press. 0:14:09.151 --> 0:14:14.111 Conference, and at one of these murder boards, the president 0:14:14.111 --> 0:14:17.710 would be on the podium, the Press Secretary would play 0:14:17.710 --> 0:14:20.031 the role of the media, asking questions. 0:14:20.511 --> 0:14:25.151 As Poindexter watched Reagan practice his answers, he became very concerned. 0:14:25.830 --> 0:14:30.711 That was when I first noticed that the President's memory 0:14:30.791 --> 0:14:35.911 was failing, because the President would give an answer and 0:14:36.031 --> 0:14:41.071 he would not have remembered the details of what had transpired. 0:14:41.631 --> 0:14:44.591 So I would correct the president, tell him, this is 0:14:44.590 --> 0:14:46.951 what I think you ought to say, and the President 0:14:46.951 --> 0:14:49.031 would say right, and then he would come back to 0:14:49.071 --> 0:14:53.471 the first question, and the President would not remember what 0:14:53.551 --> 0:14:56.871 I had suggested to him to say. So at that 0:14:56.991 --> 0:14:59.231 point I knew it was going to be difficult. 0:15:08.710 --> 0:15:12.191 What do you mean, I have a few words here 0:15:12.351 --> 0:15:15.590 before I take your questions some brief remarks. 0:15:16.151 --> 0:15:19.511 At eight pm on November nineteenth, the President walked out 0:15:19.511 --> 0:15:21.431 to a podium in the East Room of the White House. 0:15:22.071 --> 0:15:24.871 He delivered a brief statement in which he echoed Poindexter's 0:15:24.871 --> 0:15:28.231 talking points about the diplomatic opening to Iran. Then he 0:15:28.311 --> 0:15:31.271 opened the floor to questions from the press. 0:15:31.351 --> 0:15:33.671 If I can call up, if your armed shipments had 0:15:33.751 --> 0:15:37.191 no effect on the release of the hostages, then how 0:15:37.231 --> 0:15:40.231 do you explain the release of the hostages at the 0:15:40.231 --> 0:15:41.830 same time that the shipments were coming out? 0:15:42.111 --> 0:15:45.031 Now, I said that at the time, I said to 0:15:45.071 --> 0:15:48.071 them that there was something they could do to show 0:15:48.590 --> 0:15:52.511 their sincerity, and if they really meant it that they 0:15:52.551 --> 0:15:57.391 were not in favor of backing terrorists, they could begin 0:15:57.590 --> 0:15:59.631 by releasing our hostages. 0:16:00.271 --> 0:16:03.271 Even as he pushed Poindexter's high minded rationale for the 0:16:03.351 --> 0:16:06.791 arm sales, Reagan struggled to explain how the hostages fit 0:16:06.830 --> 0:16:09.511 into it, and who exactly the US had been dealing 0:16:09.511 --> 0:16:09.911 with in a. 0:16:10.511 --> 0:16:13.831 How did you know that you were reaching the moderates 0:16:13.871 --> 0:16:16.191 and how do you define a moderate in that kind 0:16:16.231 --> 0:16:16.871 of a government. 0:16:17.191 --> 0:16:22.151 Well, again, you're asking questions that I cannot get into. 0:16:22.191 --> 0:16:24.311 With regard of the answers, but believe me, we had 0:16:24.351 --> 0:16:27.990 information that led us to believe that there are factions 0:16:28.710 --> 0:16:31.551 within Iran, and many of them with an eye toward 0:16:31.631 --> 0:16:33.991 the fact that they think sooner rather than later, there 0:16:34.071 --> 0:16:36.350 is going to be a change in the government there, 0:16:36.391 --> 0:16:38.551 and there is great dissatisfaction among the people. 0:16:39.551 --> 0:16:43.590 Something else happened during the press conference, too. Reagan repeatedly 0:16:43.631 --> 0:16:46.711 denied any US involvement in the two arms shipments that 0:16:46.751 --> 0:16:50.830 took place in nineteen eighty five. These were the shipments 0:16:50.871 --> 0:16:53.591 that had started at all, the ones in which Israel 0:16:53.631 --> 0:16:58.271 had served as the middleman. George Schultz, the Secretary of State, 0:16:58.671 --> 0:17:02.711 knew the president's remarks have contained inaccuracies. The next day, 0:17:02.830 --> 0:17:04.830 he confronted Reagan about it face to face. 0:17:05.391 --> 0:17:08.351 I always had a pattern with him, whenever he gave 0:17:08.391 --> 0:17:12.191 a speech or a pres we'd have a talk afterwards, 0:17:12.191 --> 0:17:15.350 and I'd give him my reactions. And my reaction was, 0:17:15.471 --> 0:17:17.470 you told a lot of things that weren't true. You 0:17:17.630 --> 0:17:20.830 think they're true, and they've been fed to you by 0:17:20.870 --> 0:17:24.950 your staff, and they're not true. And if you would like, 0:17:24.991 --> 0:17:26.791 I will come over to the White House and go 0:17:26.870 --> 0:17:29.231 through them with you. And he invited more. 0:17:29.031 --> 0:17:32.831 Over Schultz met with Reagan in the White House residence. 0:17:32.870 --> 0:17:36.551 And I went through specific things that he said and 0:17:36.590 --> 0:17:40.791 then pointed out why they weren't right. And he was 0:17:40.830 --> 0:17:44.150 baffled because he thought his staff had given me his 0:17:44.630 --> 0:17:47.791 factual information and he assumed they were right, which it 0:17:47.951 --> 0:17:51.110 wasn't true. I never thought I'd talk to a President 0:17:51.150 --> 0:17:52.191 of the United States that way. 0:17:56.350 --> 0:17:59.031 While the President tried to contain the scandal in public, 0:17:59.791 --> 0:18:02.670 his administration was trying to take control of it behind 0:18:02.711 --> 0:18:06.750 the scenes. The effort was led by Reagan's Attorney General, 0:18:07.431 --> 0:18:11.631 ed mess. Mee was a longtime member of the president's 0:18:11.671 --> 0:18:14.511 inner circle. He had been at Reagan's side back in 0:18:14.551 --> 0:18:17.751 the sixties when Reagan was the governor of California, and 0:18:17.791 --> 0:18:20.151 he'd followed him to the White House in nineteen eighty one. 0:18:21.431 --> 0:18:24.830 Mess's decades of experience as a Reagan whisperer made him 0:18:24.830 --> 0:18:28.190 a uniquely powerful adviser Reagan's alter ego. 0:18:28.431 --> 0:18:31.271 It is true that first and foremost he's loyal to 0:18:31.350 --> 0:18:32.071 Ronald Reagan. 0:18:32.350 --> 0:18:36.151 Ed Mees, whether by instinct or by design, is Ronald 0:18:36.191 --> 0:18:36.991 Reagan's man. 0:18:37.150 --> 0:18:38.791 Here's journalist Jane Mayer again. 0:18:39.110 --> 0:18:41.590 He was kind of the keeper of the flame. Of 0:18:41.671 --> 0:18:46.590 the kind of conservative values that Reagan served and supported. 0:18:46.830 --> 0:18:48.671 He was a loyalist extraordinaire. 0:18:49.991 --> 0:18:53.071 Toward the end of Reagan's first term, he nominated Mees 0:18:53.110 --> 0:18:57.190 to be Attorney General. It was a controversial choice, what 0:18:57.271 --> 0:18:59.350 if mess ended up having to investigate his friend. 0:18:59.870 --> 0:19:02.551 Meies came under sharp questioning from members of the Senate 0:19:02.630 --> 0:19:05.910 Judiciary Committee, concerned whether he would be the president's or 0:19:05.991 --> 0:19:07.110 the people's lawyer. 0:19:07.271 --> 0:19:09.590 We have learned the evil lesson of Watergate. 0:19:10.110 --> 0:19:12.991 Drshowitz, Professor of Criminal law at Harvard University. 0:19:13.031 --> 0:19:16.390 When you have a political operative in the position of 0:19:16.431 --> 0:19:20.151 Attorney general, it creates an inherent conflict of interest. 0:19:20.551 --> 0:19:22.830 After more than a year of questions about that and 0:19:22.911 --> 0:19:26.470 other controversies, Meis was confirmed by the Senate, and the 0:19:26.511 --> 0:19:29.150 closest vote for an Attorney general in sixty years. 0:19:29.551 --> 0:19:32.031 Edwin mess was finally sworn in today as the new 0:19:32.150 --> 0:19:35.150 U s Attorney General. The Senate voted sixty three to 0:19:35.231 --> 0:19:38.391 thirty one to confirm MEAs on Saturday. The vote came 0:19:38.431 --> 0:19:39.430 after a filibuster. 0:19:42.511 --> 0:19:45.791 In January of nineteen eighty six, shortly after the first 0:19:45.791 --> 0:19:49.190 two weapons shipments to Iran, Meis was asked to provide 0:19:49.231 --> 0:19:52.830 a legal opinion about the initiative. Some of the president's 0:19:52.830 --> 0:19:55.751 advisors have been preparing a so called finding for the 0:19:55.751 --> 0:19:59.271 president to sign. A finding was a kind of document 0:19:59.311 --> 0:20:03.350 that formally authorized covert actions, in this case, the secret 0:20:03.431 --> 0:20:07.430 arm sales. According to law, the White House had to 0:20:07.471 --> 0:20:11.151 notify Congress whenever the President signed a co overt action finding, 0:20:11.711 --> 0:20:14.071 and they had to do it in a quote timely fashion. 0:20:14.711 --> 0:20:17.031 But Meis concluded it was fine to hold off on 0:20:17.071 --> 0:20:20.231 telling Congress about the arm sales until after the hostages 0:20:20.231 --> 0:20:24.110 were released. Nearly a year later, Congress still had not 0:20:24.150 --> 0:20:28.230 been informed. Two days after Reagan's press conference in the 0:20:28.231 --> 0:20:32.151 East Room, mess undertook an internal investigation to figure out 0:20:32.150 --> 0:20:35.671 the facts. The president could not afford to keep making 0:20:35.751 --> 0:20:39.710 public statements based on incomplete information. It would be Miss's 0:20:39.791 --> 0:20:43.110 job to cross reference everyone's stories and brief Reagan on 0:20:43.150 --> 0:20:46.911 what he learned. Meeces would later testify that he conducted 0:20:46.911 --> 0:20:51.230 the investigation on an informal basis as Reagan's counselor and friend, 0:20:51.551 --> 0:20:55.350 rather than as the attorney general. Nevertheless, he staffed the 0:20:55.350 --> 0:20:59.111 project with officials from the Department of Justice that included 0:20:59.231 --> 0:21:02.471 Charles Cooper, a thirty four year old attorney who oversaw 0:21:02.511 --> 0:21:03.670 the Office of Legal Counsel. 0:21:04.511 --> 0:21:08.590 It was not a publicly known or announced investigation. It 0:21:08.630 --> 0:21:12.311 was in fact, very much in keeping with the fact 0:21:12.311 --> 0:21:17.831 that the material of the investigation, that is, the essential facts, 0:21:17.951 --> 0:21:24.111 the transactions, the subject matter of the investigation, remained classified. 0:21:25.071 --> 0:21:28.750 It came to be called the Weekend Investigation. The idea 0:21:28.911 --> 0:21:31.271 was that Meice and Cooper would do some digging and 0:21:31.350 --> 0:21:33.350 be ready to present the facts to the President the 0:21:33.350 --> 0:21:34.471 following Monday. 0:21:34.231 --> 0:21:38.191 And the mission was to just get the facts, get 0:21:38.231 --> 0:21:41.631 the truth. The worst thing that the administration could do 0:21:42.431 --> 0:21:48.230 was advance a false narrative about all this. Once the 0:21:48.311 --> 0:21:53.350 truth did come out, it would be exponentially worse politically 0:21:53.390 --> 0:21:56.431 and otherwise legally for the President. 0:21:56.511 --> 0:22:00.751 For his administration, the plan was to interview the people 0:22:00.751 --> 0:22:03.511 most intimately involved in the arm sales and look through 0:22:03.551 --> 0:22:05.991 memos and other documents that could shed light on how 0:22:05.991 --> 0:22:10.830 the initiative had evolved. Meanwhile, two of the people closest 0:22:10.870 --> 0:22:14.430 to the Iran weapons program, John Poindexter and Oliver North, 0:22:14.951 --> 0:22:20.431 set about getting their affairs in order. Poindexter was concerned 0:22:20.431 --> 0:22:23.710 about the earliest covert action finding that Reagan had signed 0:22:23.791 --> 0:22:27.150 to cover the arm sales. The document had plainly stated 0:22:27.191 --> 0:22:31.551 that the purpose of the initiative was to rescue American hostages. Later, 0:22:31.791 --> 0:22:34.430 Reagan would sign other findings that listed other reasons for 0:22:34.471 --> 0:22:36.950 the ARM sales, reasons that were more in line with 0:22:36.991 --> 0:22:41.791 Poindexter's talking points about improving US relations with Iran. But 0:22:41.870 --> 0:22:45.430 Poindexter still had the first version, and he was worried 0:22:45.471 --> 0:22:47.271 that it would become a political liability. 0:22:47.870 --> 0:22:52.191 I decided that the first version of the finding, which 0:22:52.311 --> 0:22:56.110 was not a complete explanation of what we were doing, 0:22:56.951 --> 0:22:59.630 was not important, and so I personally destroyed it. 0:23:00.150 --> 0:23:01.391 How did you destroy it? 0:23:01.431 --> 0:23:05.430 Earned it outside out in the back, like a coffee 0:23:05.471 --> 0:23:05.991 can or something. 0:23:06.350 --> 0:23:12.951 Essentially it was a coffee can. Did that feel momentus momeatish? No, 0:23:13.071 --> 0:23:18.191 not really. I hadn't liked that version of the finding 0:23:18.271 --> 0:23:20.151