The House voted 333–79 on Thursday to censure Representative Charlie Rangel for ethics violations, despite his desperate plea for a lessened punishment: “I brought it on myself, and I still believe that this body has to be guided by fairness, but nobody has ever suffered the humiliation of a censure when the record is abundantly clear [that there is] no evidence at all of corruption,” he begged, to no avail. Politico reports that Rangel “now finds his 40-year career tarnished” after Pelosi censured him, a public spanking in the form of an oral rebuke, the harshest form of punishment short of expulsion from Congress. Yep, the lady made him stand there and just take it. It sounds like it was almost barbaric:
Oh, no! What did they do? “The ordeal was over in about 45 seconds, bringing a surprisingly anti-climatic end to a long battle that cost Rangel $2 million in legal fees,” Politico reports. Here’s how it went down:
Wait, that’s it? Yep. Afterward, Rangel kept things in perspective by explaining that in no way was that worse than the time in Korea when he thought he was actually going to die. Check it out, below:
House censures Charles Rangel by overwhelming vote [Politico]
House censures Rangel [CNN]
