Meese Grilled for Failing to Take Notes at Key Meetings : 2 Senators Critical of His Probe

WASHINGTON — Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III’s fact-finding review of the Iran- contra affair came under heavy skepticism today from two senators who questioned his failure to take notes at crucial points in the investigation.

Meese steadfastly defended his conduct and said, “I take offense” at one senator’s complaint that some aspects of Meese’s fact-finding mission were difficult to accept.

Meese’s inquiry came under scrutiny from Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii), who recalled that as a junior prosecutor in Hawaii 35 years ago he was instructed to make notes of every interview he conducted.

Sen. George J. Mitchell (D-Me.) also pointed out that Meese had notes made of all the interviews he conducted before questioning Lt. Col. Oliver L. North about the diversion of Iranian arms sales profits to the contra rebels in Nicaragua but did not take any notes afterward.

Failed to Take Notes

Mitchell observed that Meese specifically failed to take notes of brief conversations about the fund diversion with former CIA Director William J. Casey and former National Security Adviser John M. Poindexter.

Meese responded that he didn’t take notes in brief, casual meetings at which previously gathered information was merely confirmed but that notes were taken during interviews where substantial factual data was received.

Mitchell also questioned Meese’s decision not to secure records in North’s files earlier than he did and noted that North took advantage of the interval to shred papers in his files.

Meese replied that he trusted the good faith of National Security Council officials, including North, and that he believed that his investigators had already viewed all relevant documents in the matter. He suggested that he had no reason to suspect at the time that North was shredding papers.

Meese ‘Takes Offense’

Mitchell said he found it “difficult to accept” some of Meese’s actions.

Replied Meese: “It may be strange to you. It may strike you (as) truth being stranger than fiction, but I take offense at the idea that it’s hard to accept because what I told you is the absolute truth of what happened and if there is any question in your mind, I want to get that settled right now.”

“Well, no. . . . As I just said, it’s hard to accept,” Mitchell said..

Meese’s grilling came after the attorney general said on his second day of testimony before the committees that he believes that $8 million in unspent profits from the Iranian arms sales, now frozen in Swiss bank accounts, “should be the . . . property of the United States.”

Meese also said that even before independent counsel Lawrence E. Walsh was appointed last December, “the Department of Justice did take steps to freeze whatever assets may be in Swiss bank accounts.”

Contradictory Claim

Meese’s statement about the funds contradicted the claim advanced by retired Air Force Gen. Richard V. Secord, who testified earlier that the funds left over from the arms sales were the property of an enterprise he ran at the request of North.

In other developments:

--Meese said President Reagan’s decision to delay notifying Congress about the arms sales in 1986 was “solely out of concern” for the lives of American hostages held in Lebanon, and for the lives of individuals in Iran who were secretly involved.

--Meese said neither North nor Poindexter was asked to furnish a detailed account of their Iran-contra activities before they left their White House jobs last Nov. 25, because criminal attorneys and FBI agents were not ready to seek such information from them.