WASHINGTON -- Oliver North's secretary, Fawn Hall, told investigators she once sneaked secret documents out of the White House in her underwear, a member of the congressional committees investigating the Iran arms scandal says.
The disclosure by Sen. Howell Heflin, D-Ala., a member of the Senate committee, was made Friday as Hall, who has told of shredding secret documents in the Iran-Contra scandal until the shredder broke down, testified for about three hours before the federal grand jury of independent counsel Lawrence Walsh.
After her closed-door testimony, Hall declined comment, but her attorney said he hoped she was done and that the next step would be testifying before the congressional committees.
Heflin said in an interview with reporters that when Hall is called before the joint investigation, he expects she will testify she sneaked documents out of North's office by putting them in 'her brassiere and other clothes as she left.'
'I suppose she will testify that she stuffed documents in her underclothes and took them out,' Heflin said.
Asked what Hall did with the documents, the senator said, 'She supposedly gave them to North.'
Heflin did not elaborate further.
Hall entered the grand jury room at about 10:15 a.m. EDT, and left shortly after 1 p.m.
Asked how many times she has testified, Hall said, 'You know I can't comment on that.'
Her attorney, Plato Cacheris, said later, 'We're all through,' and asked if she would return again before the grand jury, he said, 'Hopefully not.'
It was believed her testimony, made under a grant of immunity from prosecution, covered allegations she made previously to investigators that she aided North in shredding and altering documents related to the diversion of Iran arms sale proceeds to Nicaraguan rebels.
Former national security adviser Robert McFarlane told the congressional hearings last week North told him he planned a 'shredding party' before federal investigators could go through his files.
North and Hall were said to have done their work Nov. 21, the Friday night they were warned Attorney General Edwin Meese was beginning a fact-finding review, which the following day turned up the first evidence of the possibly illegal scheme to divert funds.
Hall's testimony against her former boss, fired Nov. 25 for his role in the scandal, could be key to Walsh lodging obstruction of justice charges against North, or tying him to a conspiracy to defraud the United States. A spokeswoman for Walsh declined comment on Hall's appearance.
A member of Walsh's staff called Hall into the grand jury, which was empaneled in February and has been meeting at least three times a week at the U.S. District courthouse.
Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Richard Secord also has conceded before the committees that he shredded personal papers related to the secret operations to aid the Contras.
In other developments in the Iran-Contra investigation:
-The Hill committees were reorganizing the order of witnesses and possibly weeding out some minor ones to try to save time, House committee aides said.
-Retired Gen. John Singlaub, director of the pro-Contra U.S. Council for World Freedom, will be a witness before the committees next week and is expected to testify about supplying weapons for the Nicaraguan rebels.
Contra consultant Robert Owen testified Thursday he worked closely with North and provided Singlaub with a weapons 'wish list' from Contra leaders.
