Original subtitles

♪ dark synth music ♪

♪♪♪

[crowd cheering]

[man] We are a nation of laws, not of men.

That's really important to our future

and to our independence and liberty.

[Byrne] Our whole country, our whole history

is about creating

a system of accountability.

The goal is to prevent

the rise of an autocracy

or a dictatorship.

That's what we're all about.

[Coulson] It's very important that

the FBI be a part of that system,

and that they collect information unbiased.

They do it no matter where it leads.

[sirens blare, shutter clicking]

Chris?

Mr. President, you have stated flatly

that you did not trade weapons for hostages.

[man] Just because you're the president

doesn't mean you can violate the law.

[Byrne] There are a lot of lessons from Iran-Contra.

It is possible to get away with wrongdoing,

and it's possible to spin it beyond recognition.

It's possible to throw enough mud on the wall that

nobody knows what to believe anymore.

♪♪♪

♪ dramatic eerie music ♪

♪♪♪

[Reagan] I, Ronald Reagan...

William Jefferson Clinton...

Do solemnly swear...

Do solemnly swear...

♪♪♪

[Nixon] ...and will, to the best of my ability...

[George W. Bush] ...preserve, protect, and defend...

[Trump] ...the Constitution of the United States.

♪♪♪

♪ upbeat synth music ♪

♪♪♪

[man] Economic growth is here.

It'll be here.

[indistinct chatter]

[woman] The Dow Jones Industrial Average

has climbed more than 400 points.

[bell dinging]

[Reagan] My approval rating stays at 53.

It is the only time that in the sixth year of a two-term

presidency has a president had that high a rating.

♪♪♪

Michael Jackson, with appreciation

for the outstanding example you have set

for the youth of America and the world.

♪♪♪

So this is the dining room. How many does it seat?

Well, I guess it seats as many as you want.

It just--I really couldn't even tell you.

♪♪♪

[man] Millions of Americans celebrated Thanksgiving

with the usual traditional combination

of turkey, football,

and the 58th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

[indistinct chatter]

♪♪♪

[turkey gobbles] [laughter]

[man] Mr. President, what did you know about

money going to the Contras?

[man] Mr. President, how much trouble are you in

because of this Contra revelation?

[man 2] Did you know--did you know about the Contras, sir?

[emergency sirens blare]

[woman] Mr. President, some people might think

you're stonewalling by refusing to answer questions.

It is taking shape as one of the most

controversial foreign policy developments

of President Reagan's years in office.

Investigations into the secret double dealing

of arms for Iran and cash for the Contras.

Word was put out that President Reagan himself

is among those subjected to questions.

I am deeply troubled that the implementation of a policy

aimed at resolving a truly tragic situation

in the Middle East has resulted in such controversy.

I'm going to ask Attorney General Meese to brief you...

[man] Do you still maintain you didn't make a mistake,

- Mr. President? - Hold it.

[man] Did you make a mistake in sending arms to Tehran, sir?

No, and I'm not taking any more questions.

[man] What about Secretary Shultz, Mr. President?

[overlapping chatter]

That's what I'm gonna say, what it's all about.

Why don't I tell you what-- what is the situation

and then I'll take your questions?

Over the weekend...

There were two controversial issues

when you put them together that made it an even larger story

because of the potential crime involved.

The question was whether the FBI should be involved.

And I had a meeting with the FBI director.

At that point, it was turned over to the FBI.

I was approached by one of my bosses

the day before Thanksgiving in 1986.

I was working at my desk and he came up to me and he said,

"What are you doing this weekend?"

And I said, "I guess I'm working."

[engine turns over]

[Reagan] Admiral John Poindexter

has asked to be relieved of his assignment

as assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.

♪♪♪

[Glasser] The day after Thanksgiving,

I interviewed National Security Advisor,

Admiral Poindexter.

I was in the FBI for 24 years.

I was one of the first 40 women

hired by the FBI.

I brought into this interview

an immense respect for Admiral Poindexter.

I mean, he was a very accomplished man

professionally.

[Foster] John Poindexter was an admiral in the Navy.

He had that military bearing-- very professional, very bright.

Every time I've seen him, he had a pipe.

[Poindexter] The NSC staff has got to be the catalyst

that keeps the president's decisions moving along.

Their only loyalty is to the president.

[Glasser] Typically, I take copious notes.

I made a specific decision

going to his house that day that I was not gonna

take my notepad in with me.

I wanted him to feel like we were having a conversation.

♪ dark synth music ♪

We sat down in his living room

at his home in Rockville, Maryland.

♪ foreboding musical tone ♪

It was sort of an awesome power dynamic

between me as this young,

female FBI agent

with the person that I'm talking to being,

you know, really educated, high-level government official.

We were just reduced to two people having a conversation

where I had more power than that person had.

♪♪♪

My interview to him was really

not about subject matter,

but was about what had he done

with respect to covering up

this covert operation to support the Contras.

[indistinct chatter]

I think he felt

that he needed to sit down with me.

People who are guilty will often talk to the investigator

because they don't want you to think they're guilty.

This was a really big case.

I mean, Admiral Poindexter

was the conduit to the president.

[crowd cheering]

For those who've abandoned hope,

we'll restore hope and we'll welcome them into

a great national crusade to make America great again.

[cheers and applause]

[horns honking]

[Byrne] Ronald Reagan was beloved by many

and ridiculed by many.

His critics believed

he had no real grasp of the facts,

no interest in detail.

[Reagan] Soviet combat brigade...

[Byrne] But when it came to issues that mattered to him,

he had deep-seated convictions about those issues,

right or wrong.

♪♪♪

[Weiner] In 1947,

a Hollywood actor named Ronald Reagan

is an informant for the FBI.

Reagan is head of the Screen Actors Guild.

Hoover is launching his attack on Hollywood

as a hotbed of communism,

and here's a well-placed informant

to keep him up to date.

[Byrne] There were those like Reagan who thought that,

you know, this is one of darkest periods that

we've experienced, and if we don't act now,

we're all going to be in trouble.

We're all gonna be speaking Russian.

♪ dramatic music ♪

[Weiner] When he came to office,

he knew it was the most dangerous time

since the Cuban Missile Crisis.

This danger will not go away.

It will grow worse, much worse,

if we fail to take action now.

I'm speaking of Nicaragua,

a Soviet ally on the American mainland

only two hours flying time from our own borders.

Certain monies were made available

to the forces in Central America,

which are opposing the Sandinista government there.

There appeared to be more facts out there.

One agency was doing one thing.

Another agency was doing another thing.

Certain monies, a certain amount of monies

was then deposited to the forces in Central America.

[bird caws]

[engine turns over]

[Reagan] The national security of all the Americas

is at stake in Central America.

If we cannot defend ourselves there,

we cannot expect to prevail elsewhere.

♪ gritty music ♪

[Weiner] It was one of the highest goals

of the Reagan administration

to combat communism in Central America

through a ragtag bunch of guerrillas

who are known as the Contras.

They were against communism.

[Reagan] You know the truth about them.

You know who they're fighting and why.

They are the moral equal of our founding fathers.

We cannot turn away from them.

[cheers and applause]

[Weiner] It was essential for the Contras

to be painted as freedom fighters.

Whose freedom they were fighting for was unclear,

but they were fighting nonetheless.

[Meese] Certain members of Congress were opposed

to support of the freedom fighters,

particularly in the light of the recent Vietnam war.

We simply must not appropriate one more penny

to wage a war that has caused our allies to wonder

at our sense of proportion,

that has turned Central America into an armed camp.

[Byrne] Edward Boland had attached his name

to an amendment for banning American aid to the Contras.

It was called the Boland Amendment.

In simple terms, the Boland amendment

was a congressional action that says you cannot provide

military support to the Contras.

If you did provide weapons to them,

it's a violation of an act of Congress.

♪♪♪

[Weiner] The reaction of the Reagan administration

to Congress' ban on aid to the Contras--

"Screw the Congress. We're the White House.

We do whatever we want."

And no one believed this more fervently

than Lieutenant Colonel North.

This lieutenant colonel is not gonna challenge a decision

of the commander in chief for whom I still work,

and I am proud to work for that commander in chief.

And if the commander in chief tells this lieutenant colonel

to go stand in the corner and sit on his head,

I will do so.

[Byrne] Oliver North was a Marine Lieutenant Colonel

who had been assigned

to the National Security Council staff--

a Vietnam veteran, a decorated soldier.

On the release point, the assault element deploys

to fit in their positions.

[Coulson] I think he's a patriot.

Very, very dedicated to country,

a decorated Marine, kind of, um,

off-the-books kind of a guy.

These operations were designed

to be secrets from the American people.

Mr. Nields, I am at a loss as to how

we could announce it to the American people

and not have the Soviets know about it.

[Byrne] North acted like he had nothing but impatience

and contempt for rules and regulations.

He took it upon himself

to fulfill the mission Reagan had given him.

How he went about that was what got him into trouble.

- Where are these memoranda? - Which memoranda?

[Nields] The memoranda that you sent up

to Admiral Poindexter seeking the president's approval?

[North] But I think I shredded most of that.

Did I-did I get them all?

♪ bass music ♪

[man shouting in native language]

♪♪♪

[Foster] These camps where the Contras lived

were very remote areas.

You had to have an operation that would deliver weapons,

supplies, airplanes, fuel for the airplanes,

in this jungle outpost in the middle of nowhere.

They created back channels within the Pentagon

and the CIA so that arms and supplies

could be shipped to the Contras

using private companies that were used

to doing missions for the American government.

[man] Southern Air Transport, the uncommon carrier.

♪ funky music ♪

♪♪♪

[tires screech]

♪ foreboding music ♪

As a member of the NSC staff,

I knew that I held a position of responsibility,

but I knew full well what my position was.

I was simply a staff member

with a demonstrated ability to get the job done.

My authority to act always flowed, I believe,

from my superiors.

My military training inculcated me--in me--

a strong belief in the chain of command.

I readily admit that I was action-oriented,

that I took pride in the fact that I was counted upon

as a man who got the job done.

♪♪♪

[Major] When you're about to make a decision,

ask yourself the question:

how will this look when it is on the front page

of The Washington Post?

♪♪♪

[man] The transport plane, apparently loaded with

combat gear, was shot down Sunday in southern Nicaragua.

Three Americans were reported killed.

One American survived.

[Hasenfus] My name is Eugene Hasenfus.

I come from Marinette, Wisconsin.

The objectives of our flight into Nicaragua

were to resupply the FDN

and the UNO teams of the Contras.

[man] People in Washington right now

are trying to cover their tracks.

The people involved were not from our military,

not from any U.S. Government agency.

[man] The Reagan administration

denies a connection with that plane shot down in Nicaragua.

[Sam Donaldson] Mr. President, did you personally ask

third countries to contribute money to the Contras?

Sam, I made an opening statement,

and I have said that I'm not gonna answer any questions

on those things until this is over.

If I were going to answer any questions, I'd say no.

- [laughter] - [man] Right.

Since you didn't answer that question--

♪♪♪

[Foster] Eugene Hasenfus,

he was released around Christmas day.

I was the agent detailed to go interview him.

They sent me to Marinette, Wisconsin

in the middle of the winter,

and Marinette is in the middle of nowhere

on the Michigan border near Canada.

[horn blares]

Eugene Hasenfus had a very modest attorney.

We met in an insurance agency building.

And during that interview,

he admitted and started telling us about who else

was involved and how there were elements

of the U.S. government involved in that resupply effort

after it was prohibited by Congress.

The interview was so important

that they wouldn't let me spend the night.

I remember sitting on an airport in Green Bay.

They deiced my plane three times

so I could fly into Chicago and get a red-eye

back to Washington to tell everyone that

this was broader than first appears.

♪♪♪

I'm waiting to hear as much as anyone else.

Told you over and over again everything that I know

about all that took place and I'm waiting for it.

[man] Did you know what Colonel North was doing?

No.

[echoing] No.

[woman] Can you say whether you are aware that

anyone who advised your campaign had contacts

with Russia during the course of the election?

Well, I told you, General Flynn obviously

was dealing, so that's one person,

but he was dealing-- as he should have been--

- [woman] During the election? - No--nobody that I know of.

[Foster] This had to be known by others.

This could not be a rogue operation

run by one man bringing millions of dollars

from all over the world and arms

into a jungle camp in the Honduras,

Nicaraguan border.

This was a very elaborate plan

involving many, many agencies and many, many people

all over the world, and it had to be funded.

So who was funding this thing?

[indistinct radio chatter]

There was some monies

being made available for some other purpose.

A certain amount of money was negotiated

with Iran for arms.

The United States providing the arms...

- [gunshot] - Transferring the arms,

in effect, selling the arms.

One agency was doing one thing--transferring the arms--

another agency was doing another thing--

in effect, selling the arms.

There were certain things-- the United States--

providing Iran with arms.

[woman] Why wasn't the president told?

The president knew nothing about it

until I reported it to him.

I alerted him yesterday morning.

[helicopter whirring]

♪♪♪

[indistinct radio chatter]

[man] The car loaded with bombs exploded this morning

outside the United States embassy in Beirut, Lebanon.

[sirens wailing]

[man] This is the worst attack there has ever been

against the United States in the Middle East.

[Byrne] In the early '80s,

the group Hezbollah started a series of bombings

in Lebanon,

and then started taking Western hostages.

[woman] The wives of two Americans kidnapped in Lebanon

made an appeal to President Reagan,

calling him obstinate and asking him

to begin negotiations.

[Reagan] These deeds make so evident

the bestial nature of those who would assume power

if they could have their way

and drive us out of that area, that we must be...

[Byrne] The hostage crisis was a huge,

emotional deal for all Americans,

a feeling of-- of utter helplessness.

Reagan took the hostage crisis very personally.

[Reagan] Thank you.

[man] Those men deserve to come home

as quickly as possible.

[man 2] And I know that you have not rested

nor will you rest

until every American is home free.

[man 3] The very uncertainty of the hostages' condition

looms larger with each passing day.

[Weiner] The American hostages included

the CIA station chief in Beirut,

William Buckley.

The president listened to a tape

of Buckley being tortured by his captors.

From that day onward,

the president, daily, implored.

"Can't you do something to free the Americans?"

[Poindexter] We are convinced that Iran

does have substantial influence

over some of the groups which hold our hostages.

[Foster] Buckley died under torture.

[Weiner] The pressure grew and grew and grew.

"Do something."

[man] The next move is evidently

up to the United States.

♪ tense music ♪

♪♪♪

I, William H. Webster, do solemnly swear

that I will support and defend...

[Weiner] On paper, William Webster

was at the very top of the chain of command.

But in reality, in the second half of the 1980s,

nothing happened at the FBI

that Buck Revell, the number two man,

didn't have a hand in.

[Revell] Terrorism had been an issue

with the United States for some time,

but in 1985, it seemed that we had a--

a heightening of the attacks.

The United States gives terrorists no rewards

and no guarantees.

We make no concessions. We make no deals.

[Revell] President Reagan decided that he'd had enough

and he wanted to see what more could be done.

[Byrne] There was an extraordinary meeting.

President Reagan himself essentially said,

I am willing to break the law for the sake of the hostages.

[Weiner] It was the belief

of the President of the United States

that the way to free the hostages

was to pay ransom in the form of lethal,

sophisticated, American weapons

to the Iranian regime.

Iran had a great deal of influence with the Hezbollah.

The objective was to try to get Iran

to use its influence with the Hezbollah

to return the hostages that had been taken.

If they would use their influence

to try to help us get the hostages back,

we would provide them with weapons.

I was seriously concerned.

I discussed it with Director Webster.

[Weiner] Webster asked Attorney General Ed Meese.

Of course it's legal.

Webster takes this back to Revell and says,

"Ed Meese doesn't seem to have a problem with it."

It went completely against everything that

Ronald Reagan had ever said in public about

how to deal with terrorism.

Reagan's top advisors were their most vocal

about telling the president that he couldn't do this.

"This is illegal and it's bad politics,

and you can't just wash it away.

It's just a bad idea and you shouldn't do it."

And Reagan's response was,

"I know, but..."

Reagan was intent on doing whatever it would take.

Members of the Reagan administration--

these are men from another generation

who are note takers.

[man] What seems clear is that the other American hostages

in Lebanon are not likely to be released this week.

[Foster] The notes did show that President Reagan

had knowledge of what was going on.

♪♪♪

After the crash in the jungles of Nicaragua

exposes the fact that

the United States is illegally backing the Contras,

a little newspaper in Beirut

reveals that Oliver North

has been shipping weapons

to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

There are a number of reports tonight that

the United States arranged for the shipment

of military parts to Iran as part of a deal

for the release of American hostages.

[man] Mr. President, do we have a deal going with Iran

of some sort?

No comment, but could I suggest an appeal to all of you

with regard to this that the speculation,

the commenting and all,

on a story that came out of the Middle East

and that--one that has no foundation.

♪♪♪

[man] Mr. President,

how can you justify this duplicity?

[Revell] The president became more and more concerned

about the allegations.

The president decided to give a speech.

A charge has been made that the United States

has shipped weapons to Iran as ransom payment

for the release of American hostages in Lebanon,

that the United States undercut its allies

and secretly violated American policy

against trafficking with terrorists.

Those charges are utterly false.

[Revell] "We have not traded weapons for hostages."

That was the essence of the entire speech.

To my mind, that was not accurate.

I raised it with Director Webster, and he said,

"It's not an issue of which

we have jurisdiction or responsibility."

That concern was waved off, and of course,

the president went ahead and made that statement.

The United States has not swapped

boatloads and planeloads of American weapons

for the return of American hostages,

and we will not.

[Glasser] If there is a crime that's been committed

by a president,

is it the FBI's job

to make sure the president's not above the law?

If there's an allegation,

if there's a predication for a case,

hell yeah the FBI is gonna investigate that.

♪♪♪

[Byrne] There was a key meeting the week after

the Iran revelation.

Attorney General Ed Meese decided to take over

to make sure this crisis

didn't end up destroying the presidency.

Meese was the attorney general,

but he also considered himself

a close colleague and friend of Reagan's.

His responsibility is to see that justice is served.

It's not a hat you can just take off when you want to.

[journalists all speaking at once]

But he decided that his chief responsibility

was to serve the president as an advisor.

Why don't I tell you what-- what is the situation

and then I'll take your questions?

[Byrne] Meese had sent his own top advisors

to go and look through North's files.

One of them discovered what came to be known as

the diversion memo.

The diversion memo is probably

the most important single document in the whole scandal.

The diversion memo is discovered

by two senior Justice Department officials.

They called Ed Meese, went and had lunch with him,

and told him about the memo.

Finding the memo was like a nuclear explosion.

[Byrne] Meese acted like he was shocked and, you know,

muttered some sort of an oath.

"I'm gonna figure out what happened

and how we're gonna deal with it."

♪ dark synth music ♪

[Meese] What is involved is that

in the course of the arms transfers,

certain monies were made available

to the forces in Central America,

which are opposing

the Sandinista government there.

♪ eerie piano music ♪

[Byrne] Oliver North came up with the idea

to jack up the prices from the Iran arms sales,

take the profits, and use those to supply

the Contras with weapons that he couldn't get officially.

To combine two totally separate covert operations.

To link them together with this diversion of funds

was really what brought the whole house of cards down.

[radio tuning]

[man] The Reagan administration on this issue

of arms shipments to Iran is a portrait of confusion

and disarray on policy.

[man 2] The arrangement, apparently,

was a violation of administration policy.

[Byrne] After a couple of days of his own inquiry,

he realized that he could say

the only people who knew about it were Oliver North

and John Poindexter, and neither of them

would choose to say that the president specifically knew

about this diversion.

I was not fully informed on the nature of one of the activities

undertaken in connection with this initiative.

[Meese] The president knew nothing about it

until I reported it to him.

I alerted him yesterday morning.

But what Ed Meese, in particular,

managed to do here was to make that diversion

the center of the story.

It played on the famous Watergate formulation of,

what did the president know and when did he know it?

[Nixon] I had no prior knowledge

of the Watergate break-in.

The diversion became the core of the story.

A whole series of other activities

that Reagan was very well aware of

and that he, himself, believed violated the law

were swept aside.

So the question became,

did the president actually not know about it?

Let's dig into that and let's figure out that side of things.

♪♪♪

This was what provided Meese and the administration

with an out.

[audience applauding]

["That's What Friends Are For" playing]

♪ And I ♪

♪ Never thought I'd feel this way... ♪

[Byrne] They could say the crux of the matter

was this diversion.

"We have done our investigation

and we have uncovered this momentous development.

We can say for a certainty

that the president never knew about it.

Having discovered it, the president acted

firmly and quickly."

♪ You see, that's what ♪

♪ Friends are ♪

♪ For ♪

Thank you so very, very much.

[audience applauds, indistinct chatter]

[Reagan] Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North

has been relieved of his duties

on the National Security Council staff.

Although not directly involved,

Vice Admiral John Poindexter

has asked to be relieved of his assignment

as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.

[echoing] Not directly involved...

Not directly involved...

[Glasser] The day after Thanksgiving,

I interviewed National Security Advisor

Admiral Poindexter.

To call my meeting with Admiral Poindexter pleasant

is really a superficial characterization,

so I'm sure for him, it was very unpleasant.

♪ tense music ♪

The questions were really about,

did he know what Oliver North was doing?

He made it clear that he did not have detailed knowledge

of what Oliver North was doing.

I wanted to know whether he had destroyed any records.

When I interview someone in terms of looking

at different cues to see if they might be

telling a lie,

most of the time, I just rely on

inconsistencies.

When Admiral Poindexter told me that

he could have stopped Ollie,

I have to say that maybe the hair on the back of my neck

kinda stood up a little bit because

I do look for inconsistencies

and, you know, I thought, well,

why would he say that?

Why would he volunteer that he could've stopped Ollie?

Stopped him from what?

[wind whooshing]

[shredder whirring]

[paper crunching]

[man] You're accused by other administration officials.

They're saying you shredded documents earlier in the week

that possibly could've concealed

some of the Iran dealings.

Can you comment on that?

I would refer those questions to my attorney upstairs.

♪ eerie piano music ♪

[Glasser] The FBI's involvement in this case

came after some destruction of documents,

after Attorney General Edwin Meese

had done a fact-finding inquiry

and that in and of itself, was rather unusual.

[man] Some critics have said

that when you did a fact-finding mission,

it enabled Admiral Poindexter and Colonel North

to destroy National Security Council documents.

No, that is certainly not a valid criticism

because we were never looking--

we were never conducting an investigation.

We were never conducting even a fact-finding mission.

We were trying simply to pull all the information together

for a presentation to Congress.

[man] You had mentioned the investigation

started a little late.

Do you think that the attorney general was delaying?

I can't--you know, I do, but I can't.

I mean, absolutely do, but I can't, uh--

I didn't ever interview him.

I think it's a natural tendency

when you have a president that you love and admire

to wanna think the best of him,

to protect him.

I think Admiral Poindexter and Edwin Meese both did that.

[Major] Now, Poindexter is a very technically savvy guy,

very, very bright guy.

[machines bleeping]

♪ synth music ♪

♪♪♪

[Weiner] Admiral Poindexter established

a secret back channel

that he and Lieutenant Colonel North would use

as they schemed.

It was an early form of email known as PROFS.

This was '85. Nobody had email systems.

This computer system is another example

of innovation at IBM.

[Major] We could sit at our computer

and type out a message to the National Security Advisor.

That's when I learned, by the way,

that typing in all caps is yelling.

[Glasser] We realized that there were deleted messages

from Admiral Poindexter.

[Byrne] In the days just before the press conference,

his file consisted of more than 5,000 email messages.

The next day, after the press conference,

his file contained zero emails.

♪ tense music ♪

[Glasser] It sort of went to his state of mind

that he was destroying information.

[Foster] Poindexter and Oliver North

were not understanding why,

when they pushed that delete button,

it really didn't get deleted.

[electronic bleeping]

The problem was the backup tape.

The FBI was able to get access to that tape

and reconstruct the entire record

of Poindexter's and everybody else's communications

relating to Iran-Contra.

[Nields] I believe it's mentioned in your PROF message,

which was not deleted.

That old delete button.

And we were able to retrieve those messages,

that certainly illustrated that Poindexter

knew what North was doing.

And as--as North's boss,

was approving it.

It shows you what people knew, who else knew it,

the level of knowledge by other people.

[man] The White House's National Security Advisor,

John Poindexter, has been secretly masterminding

the shipment of spare parts and arms to Iran.

Top officials around President Reagan plotted a cover-up.

The emails that we recovered

actually solidified what we thought we knew.

Oliver North was running a very large

and illegal operation.

President Reagan was clearly

the senior official.

He had knowledge of what was going on.

Stop the killing! Stop the lies.

[man] In secretly sending weapons to Iran

and looking after taxpayer money,

President Reagan failed to do

what the Constitution required.

This is human blood upon the pillars of the White House.

[Foster] Selling arms to the Iranians after they blew up

the Beirut barracks, after they blew up

the Beirut embassy is the most immoral thing.

That's like selling Zyklon B to the Germans

after we found out the Holocaust was underway.

[man] Mr. Reagan is ultimately responsible for what happened.

When you have a prisoner of war,

you don't endanger the lives of the whole country

to get one man out of prison, but if he did it,

it's the biggest mistake that's been made

by a president in a long time.

I was horrified that, um,

that the Reagan administration

knew that Congress

did not support the funding of the Contras.

We had a law in place, the Arms Export Control Act,

which we knew

we shouldn't be shipping arms to Iran.

The administration ignored that,

and not only ignored it,

but conducted those activities

behind the front door of the White House.

♪♪♪

[journalists all speaking at once]

[Meese] We think that we have a statutory basis

to believe that a federal law may have been violated.

If there is any criminality whatsoever,

all of that matter will be investigated thoroughly

by an independent counsel,

as I found a statutory basis

to believe that it was appropriate under the law

for an independent counsel to proceed.

Good afternoon.

The grand jury indicted four defendants:

John M. Poindexter, Oliver L. North,

Richard V. Secord, and Albert Hakim.

[Glasser] Judge Lawrence Walsh built an organization

of FBI agents and attorneys,

which was quite remarkable.

I was privileged to work with him.

[Foster] The FBI and the independent counsel

was looking at the president's culpability.

These things don't happen in a vacuum.

It was important to find out how much everyone knew,

including the president.

[Coulson] Without that independent FBI,

we don't have a criminal justice system.

If there's not a federal agency that follows the law

and is unbiased, and unimpeded,

there's no justice in our country.

[Glasser] The independent counsel really

doesn't report to anyone.

Our case was criticized for the amount of money

that was spent on the investigation

and for how long it went on.

And I have this witch-hunt

constantly going on

for over 12 months now.

[Coulson] The independent counsel is really important

in our system that drives the investigation.

You need to be able to have sort of an independent review

of this kind of potential misconduct.

[man] The president today tweeting, "The appointment

of the Special Counsel is totally unconstitutional."

[Hannity] One of the biggest political witch-hunts

in the history of this country.

[camera shutters clicking]

[journalists shouting indistinctly]

[Byrne] The congressional hearings into Iran-Contra

in the summer of 1987 were an absolute spectacle.

This was, I think in many people's minds,

going to be Watergate two.

[shutter clicks]

[Weiner] The question was,

would North and Poindexter be loyal,

or would they give the president up?

[North] All I know is what I've read in the papers

and I don't believe most of that.

I mean, yesterday, I was offered capital punishment.

- [woman] Yes. - The death penalty, yeah.

I think that's a little extreme, don't you?

[man] Do you solemnly swear...

[Foster] In the FBI, we have a saying.

"Everyone talks."

Eventually, everyone will talk.

- I do. - Please be seated.

[man] You've talked here often and eloquently

about the need for a democratic outcome in Nicaragua.

There's no disagreement on that.

There is disagreement over how best to achieve that objective.

It's hard to imagine anything

that would give our allies more cause

to consider us unreliable

than that we say one thing in public

and secretly do the opposite,

and that's exactly what was done

when arms were sold to Iran

and arms were swapped for hostages.

[Nields] We do live in a democracy, don't we?

[North] We do, sir. Thank God.

[Nields] In which it is the people,

not one Marine Lieutenant Colonel,

that get to decide the important policy decisions

for the nation.

[Byrne] Ollie North was at the heart

of turning the whole scenario upside down,

and North proceeded for the next several days

to put the committees entirely on the defensive

and to make himself out, at least to his supporters,

as the hero.

For him, the mission was what was critical.

How you accomplished it was almost unimportant.

♪♪♪

Like with so much on this scandal,

half of the country was repelled by that,

and half of the country just thought this was

the greatest thing ever.

Ollie had done the Lord's work

and done the president's bidding.

And why is he being held up as accountable for all this?

I still to this day, counsel, don't see anything wrong

with taking the ayatollah's money

and sending it to support the Nicaraguan freedom fighters.

[crowd] North, American hero!

North, American hero!

[Byrne] Olliemania was what resulted from this.

Ollie, Ollie, he's our man! He's the hero of our land!

[Maher] He has served on Ronald Reagan's

National Security Council,

the host of The Oliver North Radio Show, Oliver North.

[cheers and applause]

There's the Colonel.

So you--you really are Oliver North.

To the best of my recollection, yes.

[North] I'm running for Senate

because Washington's out of control,

and we need to make some changes.

[man] His prosecutors said he was a cross

between Hitler and Joe Isuzu.

A clumsy fanatic. If you agree, vote no.

His supporters see a loyal and dedicated Marine

sacrificing himself for his president and his country.

If you agree, vote yes for "Pardon."

Oliver North, hero, villain, criminal or patriot?

What do you think?

North was a dangerous fool,

who was given a dangerous amount of power.

He was a zealot,

and such men are dangerous.

♪ uneasy music ♪

[man] Do you remember shredding documents

when the representatives of the Attorney General's office

had left for their lunch?

I remember shredding documents

while they were in there reading documents.

[man] Shredding them in their presence?

[North] Well, I mean, they were sitting in my office,

and the shredder was right outside,

and I walked out and shredded documents.

[Byrne] He was known as a serial exaggerator.

He lied routinely to colleagues, to supervisors.

He certainly lied to Congress.

I will tell you right now, counsel,

and all the members here gathered

that I misled the Congress.

[Byrne] As soon as North realized

that he might face jail time,

that there might be actual

criminal consequences for what he did,

he made sure to portray what he did

as being on orders of Ronald Reagan.

I did a lot of things and wanted to stand up and say

that I'm proud of them.

I don't want you to think, counsel,

that I went about this all on my own.

♪♪♪

[man] A lot of questions unresolved

and not yet even posed.

We will want to know a lot more about the question of:

on what authority did he act?

[radio tuning] [gavel banging]

♪ tense music ♪

The hearing will please come to order.

[Byrne] Everybody was anxiously waiting

during the congressional hearings

for Poindexter to say

whether or not he had ever told the president

about the diversion.

♪♪♪

He was the guy who saw the president the most often

and dealt with him most directly on Iran-Contra.

I think it's--you know, an important point here

is that on this whole issue,

you know, the buck stops here with me.

I made the decision.

I--I felt that I had the authority to do it.

I thought it was a good idea.

I was convinced that the president would,

in the end, think it was a good idea,

but I did not want him to be associated with the decision.

[Byrne] Poindexter was someone who unhesitatingly

took responsibility for his actions onto himself

and in fact took the burden of the potential guilt

of Ronald Reagan on himself as well.

[man] And so the answer is you did not tell

the President of the United States?

I did not.

[Byrne] Poindexter turned out to be a lot more loyal

to Ronald Reagan than Oliver North was.

Loyalty designed to protect the president

from serious political fallout.

♪ intense music ♪

[Coulson] In Watergate, people gave up the president.

The people that were there

basically had no intention to protect Nixon.

- Daughter [indistinct]. - Hi, nice to meet you.

It's nice to meet you.

[Coulson] The difference between Watergate

and Iran-Contra-- we never got to Reagan.

♪♪♪

[woman] And finally, Mr. President,

about the Iran-Nicaraguan connection,

some may wonder which was worse,

your knowing or your not knowing.

Well, all I can say is I didn't know.

And, well, we're trying to find out what happened,

because none of us know.

[laughter]

To a certain degree, Reagan benefitted

from the image that many people had of him

as kind of the amiable dunce.

Back to work!

[laughter and applause]

[Byrne] That actually played to his advantage

when it came to the plausibility of his denials.

♪ tense music ♪

[Glasser] I think about this and I think,

is this the way we want our government to run?

It should be transparent. It should be accountable.

When there's a special operation,

you can do that, but you need to advise Congress.

You can't just do it in a vacuum.

We have a process.

Our institutions have survived

this long for a reason.

We can't just, like, be fast and loose

with the rules here.

I want my government to be at least as good as me.

♪ dramatic music ♪

[Weiner] Dick Cheney, then a congressman from Wyoming,

held the point of view that in matters of foreign policy

and any time of crisis,

the powers of the presidency

are above and beyond what any of us might think

would be a limit.

He was more like a king than the president we think of.

If you don't obey the laws that are put in place

to keep all of us on the up and up,

then where are you?

A few months ago, I told the American people

I did not trade arms for hostages.

My heart and my best intentions still tell me that's true,

but the facts and the evidence tell me it is not.

[crowd cheering, dog barking]

What began as a strategic opening to Iran

deteriorated in its implementation

into trading arms for hostages.

[Byrne] The president suffered some temporary drops

in his approval rankings,

and he left office on a high note.

The vice president was seriously implicated

on both sides of the scandal

but went on to be elected president.

For an endless, enduring dream

and a thousand points of light.

[Byrne] Poindexter was found guilty.

His case was appealed,

and the court dropped any further proceedings.

The same thing more or less happened to Oliver North.

[woman] North was convicted on several counts in 1989,

but those convictions were overturned two years later.

[Byrne] Six individuals were about to be put on trial,

but were pardoned by President Bush

on Christmas Eve, 1992.

♪♪♪

[man] President Bush's pardon of Iran-Contra defendants

undermines the principle

that no man is above the law.

It demonstrates that powerful people

with powerful allies can commit serious crimes

in high office.

[overlapping chatter]

[Byrne] If you are popular enough as a president

or if you can command a base effectively,

you can get away with a lot.

[Trump] The people, my people are so smart.

And you know what else they say about my people?

The polls, they say I have the most loyal people.

Did you ever see that?

Where I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue

and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, okay?

It's, like, incredible.

[man] From President Trump,

a vision of unlimited presidential power,

tweeting about the Russia investigation.

"I have the absolute right to pardon myself."

♪ tense music ♪

[Byrne] The lesson from Watergate

that we came away with was,

yes, our highest officials had broken the law,

but they had been brought to account.

The good guys had won, the cavalry had come.

But I think after Iran-Contra,

you--you had a very different outcome.

It is possible to get away with wrongdoing.

♪♪♪

What's to stop any president

from doing whatever they want to do?

♪♪♪

♪ dramatic music ♪

♪♪♪