California congresswoman charged with House ethics violations
By the CNN Wire Staff
August 2, 2010 3:53 p.m. EDT
Washington (CNN) -- A House ethics investigative panel has charged a high-ranking Democratic congresswoman with violating House rules by seeking federal financial assistance for a bank with ties to her husband.
According to the House ethics committee, California Rep. Maxine Waters helped arrange a meeting in September 2008 between a bank she and her husband had ties to financially and Treasury Department officials.
The bank was seeking federal assistance. Waters is a senior member of the House Financial Services committee.
Waters insists she did nothing wrong.
"I have not violated any House rules," she said in a statement released Monday. "I simply will not be forced to admit to something I did not do and instead have chosen to respond to charges made by the [ethics committee] in a public hearing. ... The case against me has no merit."
The announcement by the ethics committee means Waters may now face a trial by committee members tasked with determining whether there is "clear and convincing evidence" she broke congressional rules.
Also facing an ethics committee trial: Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-New York. Rangel, the former chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, has been accused of 13 violations of House rules involving alleged financial wrongdoing and harming the credibility of Congress.