Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, July 27, 2010
House Democrats continued to struggle with how to handle the pending ethics trial of Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), returning to the Capitol on Monday as unclear on the matter as when they left last week.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters Monday that they had not spoken to Rangel about the matter. Neither indicated any knowledge of how the former Ways and Means Committee chairman plans to handle the potentially explosive ethics trial. It is slated to begin Thursday with a hearing, at which the corruption allegations will be detailed.
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The indecision over how to handle the matter comes as some party strategists are privately hoping that Rangel will reach a settlement or announce his resignation before Thursday, to avoid public scrutiny of a messy trial: It would resume in mid-September, just weeks before the November midterm elections. Aides were bracing to see whether more Democrats in vulnerable districts would call for his resignation, as Rep. Betty Sutton (Ohio) did Friday night.