WASHINGTON — A California congresswoman charged with violating House ethics rules says the congressional office that helped prompt the probe of her behavior is known for sloppy work.

Rep. Maxine Waters says the Congressional Ethics Office is "not very tight, they don't do very good work, rather sloppy work."

Appearing on ABC's "Good Morning America," the 10-term Democrat denied the charges. She is accused of seeking federal funds to bail out a bank in which her husband was a stockholder.

In 2008, Waters contacted then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson about setting up a meeting. The question is whether she was acting for a trade group representing minority-owned banks, or for one of the group's banks.