It’s Official: Ethics Committee Charges Waters With Violations

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)
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The House ethics committee announced today that it will charge Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) with ethics violations.

The panel did not name the charges. They’ll be announced at the first public meeting of an adjudicatory subcommittee, which was formed to determine whether Waters did in fact break any House rules.

The date of that first meeting is still to be determined. The House is in recess for August.

Along with the press release, the ethics committee also posted the findings of the independent Office of Congressional Ethics, which forwarded their report on Waters last August.

Waters allegedly broke the rules by setting up a meeting between then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and the CEO of a bank where her husband owned $250,000 in stock and used to sit on the board of directors.

Waters has reportedly decided to fight the charges and will go through with the trial-like adjudicatory hearing. Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY), in a separate case, has also decided to fight ethics charges in a public hearing.

Late update: Waters has responded to the charges with a statement, saying “I have not violated any House rules.”

More from her statement:

Starting with the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) report released today, the record will clearly show that in advocating on behalf of minority banks neither my office nor I benefited in any way, engaged in improper action or influenced anyone. Additionally, the OCE acknowledges that I have fully disclosed my assets as required by House rules, even going above and beyond the requirements by disclosing my assets at several Financial Services Committee hearings. In sum, the case against me has no merit.

She also took a swipe at the ethics committee.

“Although I am not convinced that the process for investigating and examining House ethics cases is fair, I welcome the opportunity to show my constituents and the American public that the accusations against me are frivolous and unfounded,” she said.

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