Rangel in Legal & Financial Disarray
Politico reports:
Rep. Charles Rangel is heading into a Nov. 15 ethics trial with no lawyers, little money and a risky strategy that may turn his trial into a political showdown, rather than a legal face-off, according to sources close to the New York Democrat.
It’s not even clear if the ethics trial will start on time. Rangel has asked for a delay in the proceedings, but the ethics committee — with members off running their own reelection campaigns — has not publicly ruled on the request.
One source close to the case said it “could take months” for a new legal team to “pick up the threads of the case,” although there is no indication that the ethics panel would agree to a lengthy delay in the proceedings. Rangel parted ways with his law firm earlier this month.
Another huge question for Rangel and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who faces a Nov. 29 ethics trial as well, is the impact of a potential GOP victory on Election Day.
If Republicans take the House, as is widely predicted, the defeat may embolden Democrats, who could be less fearful of the political fallout from the ethics controversies since they would have already lost their majority, several House aides suggested.
“It’s very likely, if Democrats lose the House, that the [ethics committee] will be less irritated and take a different tack,” said one Democratic insider. “They may be more unwilling to punish [Rangel and Waters].”
Because of the highly secretive congressional ethics process, nobody directly involved in the trials would speak on the record.
Yet the spectacle of Rangel defending himself before an eight-member “adjudicatory subcommittee” still rattles some Democrats.
“I don’t see what [Rangel] has to gain by stringing this along or [what] having it out with the [ethics] committee gains him,” said a top Democratic leadership staffer, speaking on condition of anonymity. “I don’t see the point if he has won his reelection.”
