Editing Elliott Abrams (section)

=== Iran-Contra affair and convictions ===
{{See also|Foreign interventions by the United States|United States involvement in regime change in Latin America}}
In October 1986, [[Corporate Air Services HPF821|a plane]] flown by Eugene Hasenfus, carrying military equipment intended for the Contras, a right-wing [[Contra War|rebel group fighting]] against the socialist Sandinista government of Nicaragua, was shot down over Nicaragua.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/foreigners-on-americas-death-rows/A9DCD50436A7085B7B8C39E349BBB63D |title=Foreigners on America's Death Rows by John Quigley |last=Quigley |first=John |date=2018 |publisher=Cambridge Core |pages=50–51 |language=en |access-date=2019-02-15 |doi=10.1017/9781108552448 |isbn=9781108552448}}</ref> The Reagan administration publicly denied that Hasenfus sought to arm the Contras as part of a US government mission.<ref name=":5" /> However, the State Department was centrally involved in the covert plan to fund the Contras, which violated congressional legislation.<ref name=":5" /> In congressional testimony in October 1986, Abrams repeatedly and categorically denied that the US government was involved in arming the Contras.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/book/41082|title=Intimate Ties, Bitter Struggles: The United States and Latin America Since 1945|last=Mcpherson|first=Alan|date=2011|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|isbn=9781597973939|pages=103|language=en}}</ref> However, at the time, Abrams knew that "[[Oliver North|[Oliver] North]] was encouraging, coordinating and directing the activities of the contra-resupply operation and that North was in contact with the private citizens who were behind the lethal resupply fights."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_25.htm|title=Final Report of the Independent Counsel for Iran/Contra Matters|first=Lawrence|last=Walsh|date=1993}}</ref>

During investigation of the [[Iran-Contra Affair]], [[Lawrence Walsh]], the [[Independent Counsel]] tasked with investigating the case, prepared multiple felony counts against Abrams.<ref name="finalreportch25" /> In 1991, Abrams admitted that he knew more than he acknowledged in his congressional testimony, cooperated with Walsh and entered into a plea agreement in which he pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of withholding information from Congress.<ref name="finalreportsummary">{{cite web|url=https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/summpros.htm|title=Final Report of the Independent Counsel For Iran/Contra Matters Vol. I: Investigations and Prosecutions|last=Walsh|first=Lawrence E.|date=August 4, 1993|work=Summary of Prosecutions|publisher=U.S. Court of Appeal for the District of Columbia|access-date=November 16, 2009}}</ref> For failing to cooperate, he would have faced felony charges of perjury over his congressional testimony.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.uncpress.org/book/9780807848579/our-own-backyard|title=Our Own Backyard|last=Leogrande|first=William M.|website=University of North Carolina Press|pages=479–480|language=en-US|access-date=2019-02-15}}</ref> He was sentenced to a $50 fine, probation for two years, and 100 hours of community service. Abrams was pardoned by President [[George H. W. Bush]] in December 1992.<ref>{{cite news |title=Former Bush Mideast Adviser Elliott Abrams Named U.S. Special Envoy for Venezuela |url=https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-former-bush-mideast-adviser-named-u-s-special-envoy-for-venezuela-1.6873578 |work=Haaretz |date=January 26, 2019}}</ref>

In 1997, Abrams was publicly sanctioned by the District of Columbia Bar for giving false testimony to Congress about the Iran-Contra affair. Although several of the court's judges recommended disbarment, the court ultimately declined to disbar Abrams over questions related to the effect of Abrams' presidential pardon for his prior criminal conduct.<ref>{{cite web |title=In re Elliott Abrams |url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/dc-court-of-appeals/1280741.html |publisher=Dist. of Columbia Ct. App. No. 91-BG-1518 |access-date=13 February 2019}}</ref>