Former Defense Secretary Weinberger and six other defendants were criticized for participating in the transfer of U.S. anti-tank missiles to Iran in what became known as the Iran-Contra Affair. Weinberger was charged with lying to the independent counsel after he resigned in 1987. But the pardon by President George H.W. Bush essentially halted the legal proceedings against Weinberger and his fellow defendants, as well as against Bush himself, who could have been called to testify as a former member of the Reagan administration. Independent council Lawrence Walsh, who had been investigating the affair, disapproved of the pardon, saying: "The Iran-Contra coverup... has now been completed."