O'Neill Wants Nixon to Resign; Rodino's Report Due in April

House Democratic leader Thomas P. O'Neill said yesterday it would be in the best interests of the country for President Nixon to resign.

"He has lost credibility with the nation," O'Neill, whose district includes Cambridge, said. "We'd be better off with Vice President Gerald R. Ford."

House Speaker Carl Albert of Oklahoma, who outranks O'Neill in the Democratic leadership, told reporters he had no comment on O'Neill's statement and added, "I would have to think a long time before I would recommend to the president that he resign."

Meanwhile, House Judiciary Committee chairman Peter W. Rodino Jr. (D-N.J.) said his committee hopes to report its recommendations on whether Nixon should be impeached "by the latter part of April."

Rodino said he will request a full House vote in about two weeks on a bill to give the committee special power to subpoena witnesses and documents for its impeachment investigation.

House Republican leader John J. Rhodes of Arizona has urged that any subpoenas be approved by the committee's senior Republicans as well as Rodino. Rodino said no decision has been made on that proposal.

The Exorcist

Rep. Robert F. Drinan (D-Mass.) announced that he had received a message yesterday from a constituent reading: "If you can't impeach him, exorcise him."

Drinan is the only Roman Catholic in Congress, as well as a member of the Judiciary Committee. He introduced a resolution calling for Nixon's impeachment last year, citing Nixon's bombing Cambodia without the authorization or knowledge of Congress or the voters and his administration's participation in the Watergate scandals.

Meanwhile, a presidential spokesman confirmed that all White House staff members have been asked to tell senior officials about any contact they have with reporters.

Deputy press secretary Gerald L. Warren said the request was simply an effort to keep informed about "concerns being expressed by the press." There was no intention to intimidate officials or curb contacts with the press, he explained.

Herbert L. Porter, the former Nixon re-election committee official who admitted lying under oath to remain a "team player," was charged yesterday with making false statements to the FBI.

Porter told the Senate Watergate committee last June that he lied to the FBI, the grand jury and the Watergate trial jury about money he gave to G. Gordon Liddy.