The Nation - News from Sept. 12, 1989

A federal judge said that John M. Poindexter is entitled to any documents that might show former President Ronald Reagan and President Bush knew of the ex-national security adviser’s activities in the Iran-Contra scandal. U.S. District Judge Harold H. Greene directed Poindexter’s attorneys to explain to the court by next week how presidential and vice presidential documents would corroborate his claims that Reagan and Bush were aware of actions that later led to Poindexter’s indictment. “Neither a President nor his papers are beyond the reach of the law,” Greene said. The judge ordered independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh to file papers on any responsibility he has to secure such documents and turn them over to Poindexter, who is under indictment for allegedly covering up Oliver L. North’s assistance to the Nicaraguan Contras.