'SMELL' OF SCANDAL ON GATES RAISES DOUBTS, LAXALT SAYS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP99-01448R000301290083-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 16, 2012
• Sequence Number: 83
• Publication Date: March 2, 1987
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/16: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301290083-3
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON PAL
LOS ANGELES TIMES
2 March 1987
'Smell' of Scandal on Gates
Raises Doubts, Laxalt Says
By SARA FRITZ, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON?President
Reagan should consider withdraw-
ing the nomination of Robert M.
Gates as CIA director from consid-
eration by the Senate because he
has "the smell of Irangate on him,"
a presidential confidant said Sun-
day.
Senate Intelligence Committee
members are expected to meet this
week to discuss the Gates nomina-
tion, and Reagan Administration
officials have mounted an offensive
to rebut allegations that the acting
CIA director was involved in any
aspect of the Iran-contra affair.
In the Senate as well as at the
White House, the Gates nomination
is being viewed as a major test of
the Reagan Administration's rela-
tionship with Congress in the wake
of the Iran-contra scandal.
Proximity to Scandal '
But former Sen. Paul Laxalt
(R-Nev.), one of the President's
closest friends and advisers, said
the nomination is "in trouble" in
the Senate not because of anything
Gates himself did, but because of
his proximity to the scandal and
because the CIA was involved in
many aspects of the affair.
"It's because he has the smell of
Irangate on him," Laxalt said in an
interview on ABC's "This Week
With David Brinkley." "Unfortu-
nately, I think, Mr. Gates is a victim
of circumstances."
Meanwhile, Senate Minority
Leader Bob Dole ( R -Kan.) pre-
dicted that the President will de-
cide later this week whether to
withdraw the nomination in the
face of mounting opposition. Dole
said he is currently polling GOP
senators to determine where they
stand on Gates.
Dole, who appeared on NBC's
"Meet the Press," recalled that he
told the President during a meeting
at the White House last week that
Gates could be rejected by the
Senate Intelligence Committee,
which must approve the nomina-
tion before it is considered on the
Senate floor. And, he added that
even if Gates is approved by the
panel, the nomination could en-
counter "a long process" of con-
sideration on the Senate floor.
According to sources, Senate
Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd
( D- W.Va.) has told his Democratic
colleagues that if the Gates nomi-
nation is voted out of the commit-
tee in the near future, he may
refuse to bring it up for a vote on
the Senate floor until it can be
proved by congressional investiga-
tors that the CIA official was not
involved in theran-contra affair.
Dole Against Long Delay
Dole indicated he would oppose a
long delay, either by the committee
or the full Senate.
? Sen. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.), a lead-
ing member of the Senate Intelli-
gence Committee, predicted that a
Senate floor vote would be 51 to 49
against Gates. "I wouldn't bet any
money on it," he said in an inter-
view on John McLaughlin's "One
on One."
Yet despite the growing opposi-
tion to Gates, Sen. William S.
Cohen (R-Me.), vice chairman of
the Senate Intelligence Committee,
said it is "too early" for the Presi-
dent to consider withdrawing the
nomination. He advised the Ad-
ministration to wait until after the
committee hears more testimony
from Gates on Wednesday on sev-
eral controversial points.
Among other things, the com-
mittee wants to know whether
Gates permitted the White House
to influence intelligence assess-
ments of the situation in Iran?as
suggested by the Tower Commis-
sion?and whether he authored a
plan for a joint U.S.-Egyptian inva-
sion of Libya in 1985.
As The Times reported Sunday,
Gates has supplied the committee
with a 1985 memo that he wrote to
then-CIA Director William J. Cas-
ey in which he strongly opposed
the Libyan invasion. At the time,
Gates was the agency's chief intel-
ligence officer.
Nunn said that the Tower Com-
mission report hurt Gates' chances
for confirmation.
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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/08/16: CIA-RDP99-01448R000301290083-3