Gingrich returns Pelosi salvo

NEW YORK, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Republican U.S. presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich said Monday Nancy Pelosi should face charges if she reveals information from his old ethics case.

The Democratic California congresswoman told the political Web site Talking Points Memo Monday there are "thousands of pages" of information about Gingrich from the 1990s when he was a congressman from Georgia.

The House voted 395-28 in 1997 to reprimand Gingrich and require him to pay a $300,000 penalty, after he admitted giving false information to the House ethics committee and violating House rules.

"One of these days we'll have a conversation about Newt Gingrich," Pelosi said. "When the time is right. … I know a lot about him. I served on the investigative committee that investigated him, four of us locked in a room in an undisclosed location for a year. A thousand pages of his stuff."

Gingrich called Pelosi's comments "an early Christmas gift, the Los Angeles Times reported.

"That's a fundamental violation of the rules of the House and I would hope that members would immediately file charges against her the second she does it," the former House speaker said.

"I want to thank [former] Speaker Pelosi for what I regard as an early Christmas gift," Gingrich said. "… I regard it as a useful education for the American people to see what a tainted political ethics operation Pelosi was engaged in."

The Times said Pelosi's press secretary, Drew Hammill, responded in a Twitter posting that she was "clearly referring to the extensive amount of information that is in the public record."

Gingrich was in New York to meet with businessman Donald Trump. USA Today reported Gingrich is a new member of Trump's country club, Trump National, in the Washington suburbs of Northern Virginia.

"I have a lot of respect for Newt," the real estate tycoon and TV personality said of Gingrich. "Newt's a member, so I love my members. I always love my members."

The newspaper said Gingrich has become a fairly avid golfer.

A spokesman for Gingrich said the candidate and his wife Callista are both on the rolls of Trump National but downplayed the candidate's devotion to the game.

"I wouldn't call what Newt does 'golfing,'" said R.C. Hammond. "I would say it is closer to walking with an occasional use of a golf club."