Potential Witnesses for Deaver Trial Reads Like List From ‘Who’s Who’

WASHINGTON â€”  President Reagan, his wife and five members of his Cabinet are among 216 persons who may be called as witnesses in the perjury trial of former White House aide Michael K. Deaver, it was disclosed Monday.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson read the list of potential witnesses, which represented a virtual “Who’s Who� in the U.S. government, as he began selecting jurors for what is expected to be a five-week trial.

Although Jackson did not specify which names had been submitted by the prosecution and which by the defense, it was understood that the Reagans might testify for Deaver as character witnesses.

Jackson noted that some of the witnesses may not be summoned at all, and White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater, remarking on the Reagans’ inclusion, said: “We do not expect them to be called.� Observers considered it more likely that Nancy Reagan would testify than her husband.

Cabinet officers whom Jackson said may be called as witnesses are Secretary of State George P. Shultz, Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger, Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III, Treasury Secretary James A. Baker III and Transportation Secretary Elizabeth Hanford Dole. Also on the list are former National Security Advisers Robert C. McFarlane and John M. Poindexter.

Deaver, who resigned as deputy White House chief of staff in May, 1985, has been a longtime confidant of both the President and the First Lady since Reagan’s days as governor of California. He is the closest aide to Reagan to be prosecuted on a criminal charge.

In the trial, Deaver is expected to contend that any false statements he made were the result of a memory clouded by alcohol and prescription drug use. The list of questions asked the potential jurors included one on whether they or any relatives of theirs had ever had problems with alcohol or drugs.

Deaver has acknowledged that he is participating in an Alcoholics Anonymous program.

Five-Count Indictment

While working as a Washington public relations executive after leaving the White House, Deaver was indicted by a federal grand jury last March 18 on five counts alleging he lied under oath about his lobbying activities.

At the time, Reagan issued a statement saying: “Mike Deaver has been our friend for 20 years. Nancy and I will keep him and his family in our thoughts during these difficult times. We wish him well.�

Deaver, 49, declined comment as he, his wife, Carolyn, and lawyers arrived at the U.S. Courthouse Monday morning. He perused legal papers at the defense table while Jackson, assisted by attorneys for both sides, began methodically questioning potential jurors to screen out those with biases or personal connections to the case.

‘False Declarations’

The indictment alleges that Deaver lied to congressional investigators and then to grand jurors in an effort to conceal his contacts with government officials on behalf of clients who paid him $4.5 million in fees during his first year out of government. He is accused of making “false declarations� by telling grand jurors that he never lobbied officials at the Treasury or Transportation departments.

The case, which is being prosecuted by independent counsel Whitney North Seymour, remains something of a puzzle because Deaver never was charged with violating conflict-of-interest provisions of the Ethics in Government Act, the original subject of Seymour’s investigation. Under the ethics act, high ranking government officials are prohibited from contacting their former agencies on behalf of a business client for 12 months after they leave government service.

The government has not charged that Deaver’s contacts were illegal--only that he lied under oath about them.

Brief Alleges Smear

Responding to court papers filed by Seymour last week in which he charged that Deaver lied to protect his multimillion-dollar business, Deaver’s lawyers said in a brief filed Monday that Seymour “is attempting to reap the benefits of smearing Mr. Deaver through allegations of Ethics Act violations without bearing any of the burdens of specifically proving those allegations.�

“Mr. Seymour must not be permitted to turn this perjury prosecution into a vehicle for once again trotting out prejudicial allegations of unlawful activity that he cannot prove and for which Mr. Deaver is not on trial,� the lawyers charged.

Deaver is the third top Administration official prosecuted in a criminal proceeding. Former Labor Secretary Raymond J. Donovan was acquitted in May of state construction fraud charges in New York and former Environmental Protection Agency Assistant Administrator Rita M. Lavelle was convicted in 1983 of lying to Congress.