Q. Mr. President, would you object to an investigation of the October supplies -- --
The President. I don't take any questions.
Q. Were you ever in Paris in 1980, sir?
The President. Was I ever in Paris in 1980? Definitively, definitely no!
Q. Did you ever meet with any Iranians?
The President. That's all I'm going to tell you. That's all. Please print it. And let's try to stop this rumor-mongering that's going on. Stop repeating rumors over and over again.
Q. How about Casey and everybody else?
Q. Nothing to it, then, sir, eh?
Q. You mean that nobody in the Reagan campaign went to Paris to meet any Iranian official?
Note: The exchange began at 9:48 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White House, prior to President Bush's meeting with President Carlos Andres Perez of Venezuela. Questions referred to reports of an effort by the Reagan-Bush campaign to keep Iran from freeing 52 American hostages just before the 1980 election. William J. Casey was President Reagan's campaign chairman. A tape was not available for verification of the content of this exchange.
George Bush, Exchange With Reporters on Reports of a 1980 Hostage Agreement Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/264983
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