WASHINGTON -- Oliver North, the leading man of the Iran-Contra drama, was at his most emotional on the current congressional stage in denouncing rumor of an extramarital affair with the scandal's leading lady, Fawn Hall.
North, answering questions about an apparent personal use of funds from the Iran-Contra dealings, testified at the congressional hearings Wednesday that a check cashed at a hosiery store was merely reimbursement for his out-of-pocket expenses -- and went to buy leotards for his two daughters.
Hall, the part-time model who was North's secretary at the National Security Council staff, had been part of earlier testimony showing North had traveler's checks from Nicaraguan rebel leader Adolfo Calero that were cashed at various stores, including one called Parklane Hosiery.
'I want to make it very clear,' North told lawmakers with mounting emotion Wednesday, 'that when you put up things like Parklane Hosiery and you all snicker at it and you know that I've got a beautiful secretary, and the good Lord gave her the gift of beauty, and people snicker that Ollie North might have been doing a little hanky-panky with his secretary -- Ollie North has been loyal to his wife since the day he married her.'
Referring to his wife, Betsy, the religious Marine lieutenant colonel went on to say, 'The fact is, I went to my best friend and I asked her, 'Did I ever go to Parklane Hosiery?' And you know what she told me? 'Of course you did, you old buffoon. You went there to buy leotards for our two little girls.'
North maintained that the checks he cashed were reimbursements for money he had advanced the secret operations out of his own paycheck.
