****Updated 10:00 PM
ViDEO: 2006: Pelosi says “Democrats will have the most honest and ethical Congress in history”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D - CA) weaved her way around reporters’ questions today regarding fellow Democrat and Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee New Yorker Charlie Rangel. Mr. Rangel is in hot water,and news broke on Friday morning that the ethics committee was planning to admonish Mr. Rangel.
“Obviously they have other issues to deal with,” the speaker said. “We’ll just see what happens next and what comes out of the ethics committee,” she said. “All I saw was the press release where they said he did not violate the rules of the House.”
“I think every member is entitled to have his day before the ethics committee. They had said he did not knowingly violate…and again, if this were the end of it that would be one thing, but there’s obviously more to come, and will see what happens then, but every member has that right. I think it’s quite a statement to hold members accountable for what their staffs did,” said Ms. Pelosi similarly reiterating a defense Mr. Rangel made for himself earlier.
When asked, Ms. Pelosi avoided talking about her 2006 statement regarding Democrats leading the most “honest and ethical” Congress in history, she would only say “we are” and refused to talk further about it. The speaker did not say if she thought Mr. Rangel should step down from his chairmanship.
