Packwood Faces Criminal Probe, Considers Quitting : Ethics: Lawyer confirms the senator is giving serious thought to resigning. Justice Department issues grand jury subpoena over his dealings with lobbyist.

Sen. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.), already under fire because of sexual misconduct allegations, now faces a criminal investigation by the Justice Department and, according to his lawyer, is considering resigning from the Senate.

Amid a flurry of rumors that Packwood already had decided to resign, attorney James Fitzpatrick summoned reporters to Packwood’s Senate office Friday to announce that the senator is giving serious thought to resigning.

“It was thought that now would be an appropriate time to be considering this option . . . but all I can say is that it is under consideration at this point and no final decision has been made,” Fitzpatrick said.

Speculation that Packwood’s resignation was imminent came as a senior Administration source confirmed that the Justice Department had issued Packwood a federal grand jury subpoena for documents relating to his dealings with a lobbyist for Mitsubishi Electric Co., the giant Japanese firm.

The source would not be more specific but the possibility that Packwood may have violated criminal statutes in his dealings with lobbyists first surfaced last month when the Senate Ethics Committee reviewed sections of the senator’s personal diaries as part of its inquiry into allegations of sexual misconduct filed against Packwood by more than two dozen women.

The diaries suggested that Packwood may have asked several lobbyists, including one from Mitsubishi, to employ his estranged wife, Georgie, at a time when the senator was seeking to persuade a divorce court to lower her alimony payments, several sources familiar with the documents have said.

The Justice Department investigation in turn reportedly is examining whether Packwood improperly used his influence to defend Mitsubishi from allegations of unfair trade practices during Senate hearings in 1989.

Fitzpatrick did not indicate when he expects Packwood to make up his mind about his future. But he did say that the embattled senator is consulting with some of his Republican colleagues before deciding whether to serve out the five years remaining on his fifth term in the Senate.

Other sources, however, indicated that they expect a decision to be announced soon.

Senate lawyers had been scheduled to file a lawsuit in U.S. District Court on Friday seeking enforcement of an earlier subpoena for sections of his diaries that Packwood refused to turn over to the Ethics Committee.

But in an indication that the committee also expects Packwood’s resignation might be imminent, the lawyers left the courthouse without filing the papers.

Senate Legal Counsel Michael Davidson refused to comment when asked why the papers were not filed. But Packwood’s resignation would render the issue moot from the Senate’s standpoint because the Ethics Committee can only investigate sitting senators and has no jurisdiction over former members, even if their alleged misconduct occurred while they were in office.

The Justice Department subpoena, however, was a strong indication that even Packwood’s resignation would not put an end to his legal problems.

Earlier this month, before the Senate voted, 94 to 6, to authorize the Ethics Committee to go to court to enforce its subpoena for the diaries, Committee Chairman Richard H. Bryan (D-Nev.) said that parts of the documents already reviewed by the committee contained information that raised “questions about possible violations of criminal laws.”

He would not be more specific but other sources familiar with the investigation said that the documents referred to an offer by Steven Saunders, a former trade official and a lobbyist for Mitsubishi, to hire Georgie Packwood to buy antiques for resale to Japanese clients.

The investigators now want to know whether that offer--which Saunders reportedly later withdrew--was related in any way to Packwood’s defense of Mitsubishi in an unfair trade practices complaint that was the subject of a Senate hearing in 1989, according to sources familiar with the case.

Packwood would not comment on the allegations. But he told reporters who caught up with him outside the Senate chamber that rumors of his resignation being imminent are not true.

“No,” he answered tersely when asked if he would be resigning that night. “I don’t think so,” he replied when asked if he would be making an announcement over the weekend.

As rumors of his resignation spread, Packwood met with Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) and other Republican colleagues.

None of the senators who spoke with Packwood would comment on the nature of their conversations but several said that the Oregon lawmaker seemed deeply depressed.

“It’s tough, awful tough,” said Sen. Alan K. Simpson (R-Wyo.). “There is a very tortured human being at the bottom of the pile.”