Mr. BELNICK: Sometime in the afternoon did you receive a
telephone call from the White House operator?
Ms. HALL: Yes, sir.
Mr. BELNICK: Would you tell us about that call?
Ms. HALL: Sometime late afternoon, the phone rang, I answered
it, it was the White House operator saying the President would like
to speak with Colonel North. I asked her if she would hold for a
moment. I placed a call to the hotel and told him the President
would like to speak with him and I was going to go ahead and give
the operator the number and have her call. He said yes, and I did
so.
Mr. BELNICK: Did you subsequently learn from Colonel North
whether he had spoken to the President?
Ms. HALL: Yes, sir.
Mr. BELNICK: And what did Colonel North tell you about his
phone call with the President?
Ms. HALL: He said the President called him an American hero
and that he just didn't know.
Mr. BELNICK: The President said that he, the President, just
didn't know?
Ms. HALL: That's what I recall Colonel North saying.
Mr. BELNICK: Did Colonel North explain what he understood that
reference to mean?
Ms. HALL: No, sir.
Mr. BELNICK: You didn't ask about it?
Ms. HALL: No, sir.