Rep. Trey Radel (R-FL) first informed House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) of the fact that he was charged with possession of cocaine early Tuesday at a private meeting in Boehner’s Capitol Hill office, a senior GOP aide told the Washington Post.
Radel, a first-term congressman, was sentenced to one year of supervised probation after pleading guilty Wednesday to a charge of misdemeanor cocaine possession on Oct. 29 in Washington, D.C. He released a statement blaming the crime on “the disease of alcoholism” on Tuesday.
“Members of Congress should be held to the highest standards, and the alleged crime will be handled by the courts,” a Boehner spokesman said in a Tuesday statement. “Beyond that, this is between Rep. Radel, his family, and his constituents.”
