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.