Walsh Final Report: Chronology of Key Public Developments

Walsh Iran / Contra Report - Chronology of Key Public Events Chronology of Key Public Events Oct. 5, 1986: Nicaraguan soldiers shoot down a contra-resupply plane; Eugene Hasenfus, an American, survives. Nov. 3, 1986: Lebanese newspaper Al-Shiraa reports that the United States secretly sold arms to Iran. Nov. 6, 1986: President Reagan denies arms were sold to Iran. Nov. 13, 1986: President Reagan acknowledges weapons were sold to Iran but denies that the arms were sold to win the release of American hostages. Nov. 19, 1986: President Reagan holds a news conference at which he denies U.S. involvement in shipments prior to January 1986. Nov. 25, 1986: White House discloses contra diversion from the Iran arms sales. Dec. 1, 1986: Tower Commission appointed by President Reagan. Dec. 4, 1986: Meese requests appointment of Independent Counsel on Iran/contra. Dec. 6, 1986: Swiss financial records of Enterprise requested by Department of Justice pursuant to treaty. Dec. 19, 1986: Walsh appointed Independent Counsel. Jan. 6, 1987: Senate creates Iran/contra committee. Jan. 7, 1987: House creates Iran/contra committee. Jan. 29, 1987: Senate Select Committee on Intelligence issues report on Iran/contra. Feb. 7, 1987: Swiss Office for Police Matters approves request for financial records; Albert Hakim and Manucher Ghorbanifar appeal. Feb. 26, 1987: Tower Commission issues Iran/contra report. March 5, 1987: Walsh receives parallel appointment as Independent Counsel from Justice Department. March 18, 1987: Walsh reaches agreement with House and Senate Iran/contra committees to delay voting on and obtaining immunized testimony by North and Poindexter. April 28, 1987: Independent Counsel submits First Interim Report to Congress on potential problems caused by immunity grants. April 29, 1987: Carl ``Spitz'' Channell pleads guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States. May 5, 1987: Congress begins public hearings on Iran/contra. May 6, 1987: Richard R. Miller pleads guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States. July 7-10 and July 13-14, 1987: North testifies publicly under grant of immunity before Congress. July 15-17 and July 20-21, 1987: Poindexter testifies publicly under grant of immunity before Congress. Nov. 10, 1987: Swiss financial records of Enterprise received by Independent Counsel. Nov. 18, 1987: Congress issues Iran/contra report. Jan. 22, 1988: The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia strikes down the Independent Counsel law as unconstitutional. March 11, 1988: McFarlane pleads guilty to withholding information from Congress. March 16, 1988: North, Poindexter, Secord and Hakim indicted on conspiracy to defraud the United States and other charges. June 8, 1988: Judge Gesell orders separate trials for North, Poindexter, Secord and Hakim due to problems caused by congressional grants of immunity. June 20, 1988: Fernandez indicted in District of Columbia for conspiracy and false statements to the CIA Inspector General and the Tower Commission. June 29, 1988: Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of the Independent Counsel law. Oct. 19, 1988: Judge Robinson dismisses Fernandez case without prejudice on venue grounds. Jan. 13, 1989: Central conspiracy and theft charges against North are dismissed because of classified information problems. Jan. 31, 1989 to May 4, 1989: North trial, resulting in three-count conviction. April 7, 1989: Secord is indicted on nine additional charges of obstruction, false statements and perjury. April 21, 1989: Fernandez indicted on false statement and obstruction charges in Eastern District of Virginia. July 24, 1989: Attorney general obtains a stay of the Fernandez trial to appeal Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA) rulings. Aug. 23, 1989: The Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals hears oral arguments in Fernandez on the attorney general's right to appeal under CIPA. Sept. 19, 1989: Walsh testifies before the legislative subcommittee of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on CIPA and submits a report to the House and Senate judiciary committees and the Senate Intelligence Committee. Sept. 29, 1989: The Fourth Circuit rules that the attorney general does not have standing under CIPA to appeal trial court rulings in cases prosecuted by Independent Counsel. It dismisses the appeal and remands the case to the district court. Nov. 8, 1989: Secord pleads guilty to making false statements to Congress. Nov. 21, 1989: Hakim pleads guilty to illegally supplementing the salary of a Government official; Lake Resources Inc. pleads guilty to a corporate felony of diverting Iran arms sales proceeds to the contras. Nov. 24, 1989: Fernandez is dismissed after the attorney general refuses to allow the disclosure of certain classified information at trial. Independent Counsel files notice with the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that the Government will appeal the trial court's CIPA rulings. Dec. 11, 1989: Independent Counsel submits Second Interim Report to Congress on CIPA. Dec. 12, 1989: Walsh testifies on CIPA in closed session of the legislative subcommittee of the House Intelligence Committee. Feb. 6, 1990: North appeal oral arguments. Feb. 16-17 1990: Reagan gives videotaped deposition in Poindexter. Feb. 22, 1990: Thomas G. Clines is indicted on tax charges. Feb. 22, 1990: Walsh testifies on CIPA in a closed session of the Senate Intelligence Committee. March 5, 1990 to April 7, 1990: Poindexter trial, resulting in five-count conviction. July 20, 1990: U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacates North's convictions and orders further hearings by trial court on immunity issue. Sept. 6, 1990: Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholds trial court's rulings in Fernandez. Sept. 4-18, 1990: Clines trial, resulting in convictions on four felony charges. Oct. 12, 1990: Fernandez dismissed after attorney general notifies trial court that he has made a final determination not to withdraw CIPA 6(e) affidavit to bar use of classified information. Oct. 24-25, 1990: Walsh reports to the congressional intelligence and judiciary committees on final outcome of Fernandez. May 28, 1991: Supreme Court declines review of North case. July 9, 1991: Alan D. Fiers, Jr., pleads guilty to withholding information from Congress. Sept. 6, 1991: Clair E. George is indicted on 10 counts of perjury, false statements and obstruction. Sept. 16, 1991: Case against North is dismissed on motion of Independent Counsel after two days of hearings by the trial court. Oct. 7, 1991: Elliott Abrams pleads guilty to withholding information from Congress. Nov. 15, 1991: U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit reverses Poindexter's convictions. Nov. 26, 1991: Duane R. Clarridge is indicted on seven counts of perjury and false statements. Feb. 27, 1992: Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals affirms Clines' convictions. May 21, 1992: Clair George is reindicted on two additional charges after three are dismissed with Independent Counsel's consent; George now faces nine felony charges. May 25, 1992: Thomas Clines begins serving 16-month jail sentence. June 16, 1992: Former Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger is indicted on five felony charges of obstruction, perjury and false statements in congressional and Independent Counsel investigations. June 24, 1992: Walsh issues Third Interim Report to Congress, stating that investigation is in its final phase and focusing on whether high-ranking Administration officials beginning in November 1986 tried to obstruct official investigations into the 1985 Iran arms sales. July 13, 1992: George trial begins. August 26, 1992: Mistrial declared in George case after jury fails to reach a verdict. Independent Counsel announces that the case will be retried. Sept. 17, 1992: Walsh informs Chief Judge George MacKinnon, of the Independent Counsel appointing panel, and Attorney General William Barr that the investigation is complete barring unforeseen developments at the remaining trials. Sept. 29, 1992: Judge Hogan dismisses Count 1, an obstruction of Congress charge, in the Weinberger case on grounds it does not conform to the Poindexter appeals ruling on the obstruction statute. Oct. 19, 1992: George retrial on seven counts begins. Oct. 30, 1992: Weinberger is re-indicted on a false statement charge, replacing the previously dismissed Count 1 obstruction charge. Dec. 7, 1992: Supreme Court declines to review Poindexter. Dec. 9, 1992: George is found guilty on two counts of false statements and perjury before Congress; sentencing is set for February 1993. Dec. 11, 1992: Judge Hogan dismisses the new one-count indictment against Weinberger on statute of limitations grounds, leaving four charges remaining. Dec. 11, 1992: White House informs Independent Counsel that President Bush has kept diaries relevant to Iran/contra, which have never been produced to investigators. Dec. 24, 1992: President Bush pardons Weinberger, Clarridge, McFarlane, Fiers, Abrams and George. Independent Counsel denounces pardons. Jan. 5, 1993: Weinberger trial was scheduled to begin. Feb. 8, 1993: Independent Counsel issues Fourth Interim Report to Congress on the Weinberger case and the presidential pardons.