According to multiple reporters who were on the scene, former Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) returned to the House floor Thursday evening, hours after a Court of Appeals in Texas overturned his 2010 money laundering conviction. Roll Call’s Matt Fuller posted on Twitter that DeLay was hugging other members and doing a “victory lap.”
“Tom DeLay on the House floor, hugging it out, doing a general victory lap,” Fuller wrote.
Politico’s Ginger Gibson wrote that DeLay told her he wanted to “hang out” on the floor.
Former House members are afforded floor priveleges. DeLay resigned from Congress in 2006 as he faced accusations he conspired to funnel corporate money to political candidates in Texas in an effort to secure a Republican majority in that state’s legislature in 2002. He was convicted of money laundering of funds of $100,000 or more and conspiracy to commit money laundering of funds of $100,000 or more in 2010, but was allowed to remain free on bail pending his appeal.
Prosecutors have said they will ask the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to review the decision overturning that conviction and acquitting DeLay. Brian Wice, an attorney for DeLay, told TPM Thursday that he wished the prosecutors “good luck” in their efforts to convict DeLay.
