WASHINGTON — Rep. Charlie Rangel is suing House Speaker John Boehner and six other lawmakers in a bid to reverse his humiliating 2010 censure for ethics violations.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court in DC, the Harlem Democrat claimed that the Ethics Committee leaders “knowingly deceived” House members about his ethics probe.
The committee “acted knowingly, intentionally and willfully to frustrate the goal of assuring adherence to plaintiff’s due process rights,” said the complaint.
Rangel, 82, claimed there would have been a “different outcome” if alleged misconduct in the probe had been known at the time.
The committee found that Rangel had engaged in a pattern of unethical conduct, and the House voted, 333-79, to censure Rangel, putting a stain on his storied four-decade career in Congress.
Rangel’s lawsuit also names then-Ethics Committee Chairman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and ranking member Jo Bonner (R-Ala.), as well as Reps. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), Michael Conaway (R-Texas), Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) and Gregg Harper (R-Mo.).
Rangel did not comment on the lawsuit.