NBC Nightly News open - 1988-03-25

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:02] President Reagan says the Iran Contra

[0:04] defendants broke no laws. Dole all but

[0:07] concedes as the Democrats battle for

[0:09] Michigan delegates.

[0:12] >> NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokoff.

[0:17] >> Good evening. A special prosecutor spent

[0:19] months investigating the Iran Contra

[0:21] affair before he returned a 23count

[0:23] indictment against Oliver North, John Po

[0:26] Dexter, Richard Secord, and Albert

[0:27] Hakee. The most sweeping charges

[0:30] involving high government officials

[0:31] since Watergate. The charges include

[0:34] conspiracy, theft, and fraud. $18

[0:36] million realized from the arm sales. And

[0:39] today, for the first time since the

[0:40] indictments and the not guilty pleas

[0:42] from the defendants, President Reagan

[0:44] offered his verdict. As NBC's Andrea

[0:47] Mitchell reports, it was instantly

[0:49] controversial.

[0:51] The president plunged into legal

[0:53] controversy by praising Oliver North as

[0:55] a hero and predicting that North and the

[0:57] other Iran Contra figures will be found

[0:59] not guilty.

[1:00] >> I just have to believe that they're

[1:03] going to be found innocent because I

[1:05] don't think they were guilty of any

[1:06] lawbreaking or any crime.

[1:08] >> Answering questions from college

[1:09] students, Mr. Reagan left open for now

[1:12] the question of pardons. I still think

[1:14] Ali North is a hero and at the other

[1:18] hand in any talk about what I might do

[1:19] or pardons and so forth I think with the

[1:21] case before the courts that's something

[1:23] I can't discuss now

[1:25] >> and ignoring advice from his aids to

[1:27] avoid the controversy the president

[1:29] defended what he called a token shipment

[1:32] of arms

[1:33] >> you know the whole so-called Iran

[1:36] scandal I find it hard to think of

[1:39] scandal in connection with it

[1:41] >> 10 days ago Mr. Reagan gave the answer

[1:43] his aids had crafted for him.

[1:45] >> This is in the courts. Let's let's wait

[1:47] and determine whether they say the law

[1:49] was broken.

[1:50] >> White House aids say that the president

[1:51] was defending the Iran arm sales, not

[1:54] the diversion of funds. The chief

[1:56] counsel to the Senate Iran Contra

[1:58] Committee believes Mr. Reagan has missed

[1:59] the point.

[2:00] >> I think that there's something uh

[2:02] seriously wrong in the president's

[2:04] understanding of the facts because it is

[2:07] wrong to shred documents. It is wrong to

[2:10] alter documents. it is wrong uh to

[2:14] deceive Congress.

[2:15] >> A leading senator says the remarks were

[2:17] inappropriate and could affect the case.

[2:20] >> President Reagan has contributed to a

[2:22] prejuditial climate which could make it

[2:25] extremely difficult to get an unbiased

[2:27] jury in these cases.

[2:30] >> But Oliver North was delighted.

[2:32] >> Well, I am certainly grateful for the

[2:33] president's words and I am equally

[2:37] grateful for the continued support of

[2:38] the American people and their prayers.

[2:40] The president's comments left his aids

[2:43] shaking their heads in dismay. Spokesman

[2:46] Marlon Fitzwwater could say only that

[2:47] Mr. Reagan is a man who tells you what

[2:49] he thinks and that's what he thinks.

[2:52] Andrea Mitchell, NBC News at the White

[2:55] House.

[2:56] >> Senator Robert Dole said aloud today

[2:58] what most political observers have been

[3:00] acknowledging since Super Tuesday.

[3:02] Speaking of the chances that his

[3:04] Republican rival, Vice President George

[3:06] Bush, will win the nomination, Dole said

[3:09] it's probably pretty much a foregone

[3:10] conclusion. And despite Dole's pledge to

[3:13] stay in the race until Wisconsin, April

[3:15] 5th, one of his aids told NBC's Lisa

[3:17] Myers today, the campaign now is on a

[3:19] day-to-day basis. Democrats, on the

[3:22] other hand, are still locked in a four

[3:23] or fiveway fight for their nomination.

[3:26] And this weekend, the Michigan caucuses

[3:28] are the big prize. As NBC's Ken Bod

[3:30] reports tonight, this is a make it or

[3:33] break it time for one of them.

[3:36] >> Dick Gart has all his chips on the table

[3:39] in Michigan. Fighting rumors that he

[3:41] will drop out and file for Congress next

[3:43] week, Gart is hoping Michigan's

[3:45] bluecollar Democrats will resurrect his

[3:47] presidential campaign. Gart has long

[3:50] carried water on the issue that the shot

[3:52] in a beer crowd in Michigan cares about

[3:54] most, the issue of trade. The auto

[3:56] industry here has suffered greatly from

[3:58] imports. Though Gart's trade bill is

[4:01] criticized by his opponents as

[4:03] protectionist, it is endorsed by

[4:04] Michigan's strongest political force,

[4:06] the United Auto Workers. Yesterday, auto

[4:09] workers President Owen Bieber appeared

[4:11] with Ghart.

[4:12] >> The problems of unfair trade are not

[4:16] foreign to the people in Michigan.

[4:19] >> Because the AFL CIO has a policy of

[4:22] non-endorsement, Bieber has been

[4:24] officially neutered. couldn't even say

[4:26] he would vote for the man who takes the

[4:28] strongest position on the UAW's main

[4:30] issue. Nonetheless, Keart remains

[4:32] optimistic. Tomorrow is going to be the

[4:36] beginning of the Michigan miracle. We

[4:40] will win in Michigan tomorrow. Michael

[4:42] Dauus is still running as the architect

[4:44] of the Miracle in Massachusetts.