WASHINGTON — The House ethics investigatory subcommittee recommended that Rep. Charlie Rangel be reprimanded, which is the least severe punishment, according to a new report.
The disclosure was made today by Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas), who is the panel’s chairman.
A reprimand falls below expulsion and censure on the list of available punishments.
Green also said the subcommittee met with the New York congressman three times in its investigation, which included one time when Rangel was under oath, Roll Call reported.
He noted that members had seen nothing of a reported deal between Rangel and the subcommittee.
President Obama called the ethics charges against longtime Rep. Charlie Rangel “very troubling,” saying on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric that he hopes Rangel can end his career with dignity.
“He’s somebody who’s at the end of his career,” Obama said in an interview aired Friday. “I’m sure that what he wants is to be able to end his career with dignity. And my hope is that it happens.”
Obama praised Rangel for serving his constituents well but called the tax and disclosure charges against him “very troubling.”
It was hardly an endorsement, but still came well short of the calls for resignation Rangel is getting from several House Democrats. Rangel is facing more than a dozen ethics charges.
Rangel today denied that a reprimand punishment was recommended.
“It’s untrue, it’s just not so,” Rangel told reporters, without elaborating.
Rangel also said that he has not been asked to apologize for his actions by the ethics committee.
Green later apologized to Rep. Zoe Lofgren, the ethics committee chairwoman, for disclosing the recommendation. Green told The Hill’s website that he “screwed up” when he talked about the possible punishment.
Rangel yesterday was charged by the ethics committee with 13 violations in a 40-page report.
It found after an exhaustive two-year investigation that Rangel had a “pattern of indifference or disregard for the laws, rules and regulations of the United States and the House of Representatives.”
In one of its harshest allegations, the panel found “substantial reason” to believe Rangel broke rules by soliciting corporations and foundations with business before Congress for large contributions to the Charles Rangel Center for Public Service at CCNY — a story The Post broke in 2007.
If Rangel admits to all the violations, the trial could be stopped and the ethics committee would proceed to penalty deliberations.
With AP