“For over two years, the Charlie Rangel saga dragged on while Speaker Pelosi not only sat idly by, but encouraged her members to vote against an investigation into the deeply troubling matters at hand. It appears that Charlie Rangel will finally be judged by a jury of his peers, but unfortunately for the Speaker, the verdict is already out on what she promised would be the ‘most ethical Congress in history.” said Ken Spain, communications director for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

By Susan Crabtree and Molly K. Hooper at The Hill

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) will stand trial on ethics charges  after a House panel accused him Thursday of multiple violations.
The veteran lawmaker will challenge the findings in an open hearing.

The news of Rangel’s trial comes at a bad time for Democrats, who are hoping to retain control of Congress this fall.

The House ethics committee stated it has launched a separate panel, called an adjudicatory subcommittee, in the wake of unspecified findings by a four-member panel of the ethics committee that Rangel violated House rules.

The adjudicatory subcommittee, a separate eight-member panel tasked with trying Rangel on the charges, will hold a public organizational meeting July 29.

A visibly frustrated Rangel on Thursday afternoon told The Hill that he did not know what the “alleged violations are finally going to be.”

Less than two hours before the committee posted its statement on the website, Rangel was seen on the House floor on the GOP side of the aisle, engaged in a five-minute conversation with the head of the ethics panel, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), who will chair the adjudicatory subcommittee.

The normally loquacious senior New York lawmaker said he was not supposed to reveal the details of the discussion.

“I am not really informed as to what is confidential and what is not, except they encourage me not to talk to the press about what they are doing,” Rangel said. “Even as you and I talk, I have no idea as to what the alleged violations are finally going to be.”

FULL STORY

Help Make A Difference By Sharing These Articles On Facebook, Twitter And Elsewhere:

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•