Editing Iran–Contra affair (section)

===Pardons===
On 24 December 1992, after he had been defeated for [[1992 United States presidential election|reelection]] by [[Bill Clinton]], President George H. W. Bush pardoned five administration officials who had been found guilty on charges relating to the affair.<ref>{{cite journal |first=Jack |last=Doppler |title=No Longer News: The Trial of the Century That Wasn't |journal=ABA Journal |volume=79 |issue=1 |date=January 1993 |pages=56–59}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Welna |first=David |date=2018-12-06 |title=George H.W. Bush's Mixed Legacy In A Reagan-Era Scandal |url=https://www.npr.org/2018/12/06/674079779/george-h-w-bushs-mixed-legacy-in-a-reagan-era-scandal |access-date=2025-05-02 |work=NPR |language=en}}</ref> They were: 
# [[Elliott Abrams]]; 
# [[Duane Clarridge]];
# [[Alan Fiers]];
# [[Clair George]]; and
# [[Robert McFarlane (American politician)|Robert McFarlane]].

Bush also pardoned [[Caspar Weinberger]], who had not yet come to trial.<ref>{{cite web|last=Bush|first=George H.&nbsp;W.|title=Proclamation 6518 – Grant of Executive Clemency|publisher=The American Presidency Project|url=http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/print.php?pid=20265|date=24 December 1992|access-date=23 April 2008|archive-date=14 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080514002544/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/print.php?pid=20265|url-status=live}}</ref> Attorney General [[William P. Barr]] advised the President on these pardons, especially that of Caspar Weinberger.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-oral-histories/william-p-barr-oral-history-assistant-attorney-general|title=William P. Barr Oral History, Assistant Attorney General; Deputy Attorney General; Attorney General|date=2016-10-27|website=Miller Center|language=en|access-date=2019-03-26|archive-date=7 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181207045728/https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/presidential-oral-histories/william-p-barr-oral-history-assistant-attorney-general|url-status=live}}</ref>

In response to these Bush pardons, [[United States Department of Justice Office of Special Counsel|Independent Counsel]] [[Lawrence E. Walsh]], who headed the investigation of Reagan administration officials' criminal conduct in the Iran–Contra scandal, stated that "the Iran-contra cover-up, which has continued for more than six years, has now been completed." Walsh noted that in issuing the pardons Bush appears to have been preempting being implicated himself in the crimes of Iran–Contra by evidence that was to come to light during the Weinberger trial, and noted that there was a pattern of "deception and obstruction" by Bush, Weinberger and other senior Reagan administration officials.<ref name="Johnston 1992" /><ref name="ghwbush-pardons" /><ref name=Firewall/>