crimes and misdemeanors

Nobody Has Any Idea What’s Happening With Charlie Rangel

After an unexplained delay this afternoon, House ethics investigators read off a list of thirteen different charges of ethical misdeeds against Charlie Rangel. At about the same time, The Wall Street Journal reported that Rangel has reached a “tentative settlement … that could end the two-year ethics probe into the once-powerful New York lawmaker.”

Everyone seems to be confused as to whether a deal has actually been reached — even Rangel himself! When asked earlier if there was a deal, he told reporters, “I don’t know. I’ll tell you one thing, until someone tells me that there is, there isn’t.” But Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the ethics subcommittee that will determine Rangel’s fate, seemed to indicate that the window for a deal had closed. “Let me be clear that Mr. Rangel under these rules was given opportunities to negotiate a settlement during the investigation phase,” he said in his opening remarks. “We are now in the trial phase.”

Ethics panel outlines 13 charges against Rangel [MSNBC]
Ethics panel recites charges against Rangel as reports of deal circulate [Hill]

Nobody Has Any Idea What’s Happening With Charlie Rangel