Counsel Subpoenaed in Phone Call Taping

The lawyer hired by the House to conduct an ethics investigation of Newt Gingrich has been subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury in connection with an intercepted telephone conversation involving Gingrich and other Republican leaders, sources said. The Justice Department has been investigating how that recording ended up in newspapers. James M. Cole, the subpoenaed lawyer, was the outside counsel for the probe. John and Alice Martin of Fort White, Fla. heard the call while using a radio scanner, taped it and gave it to Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), the ranking Democrat on the Ethics Committee. Rep. Nancy Johnson (R-Conn.), then chairwoman of the Ethics Committee, ordered it sent to the criminal division of the Justice Department. Federal law prohibits the intentional interception of cellular phone calls and distribution of such a recording if the person transmitting it knew the recording was illegal.