Rep. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va., the panel's senior Democrat, issued a statement noting that the lengthy meeting yielded only one agreement: to continue an investigation begun in 2004 of Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., who has admitted leaking to reporters a tape-recorded cellphone conversation involving a Republican colleague in 1996.
This is what the fuss was about:
Following are excerpts from a telephone conference call that Speaker Newt Gingrich had with other Republican leaders in the House and his lawyer Ed Bethune. A tape of the call was given to The New York Times by a Congressman who insisted on anonymity and who is hostile to Mr. Gingrich. The Congressman said the tape was given to him on Tuesday by a couple from northern Florida. They told the Congressman that the call was picked up and recorded from a police scanner on Dec. 21 about 9:45 A.M. The recording does not begin with the start of the telephone call, in which the men are discussing an agreement Mr. Gingrich had made in which he promised not to orchestrate a Republican counterattack against ethics charges that were about to be filed against him.
BILL PAXON So when the committee issues that report, before we have an immediate response. Because they will certainly have a war room set up on the other side, and if we have several hours or a day go by when our members are out there without response, it will be a disaster, that's right.
ARMEY And Bill, I think Bill's right on that. I think the statement as I recall hearing it is acceptable, and it probably could go a couple of hours.
PAXON When will we see your statement, Newt?
GINGRICH My guess is, and I think they are running about 15 minutes late, my guess is we will have our statement out before noon. And if there was a way, I'm not an expert, but if there was a way to have by two or three to have some kind of statement also on the wire.
ARMEY Oh, yeah.
GINGRICH At that point we're in by the evening news, catch the morning papers.
BETHUNE Let me explain a technicality here which will help you all understand the time frame. Of course the subcommittee is bound to confidentiality by the rules of the committee until such time as an answer is filed. ... That, the confidentiality rule is still in place until Newt files his answer. ... And it would also be a time when we are authorized to have the conversation that we are having now, a little prematurely. But I don't think it would be troubling to anyone that we are a little ahead of the gun.
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