The panel found 'clear and convincing evidence' that Charles Rangel violated 11 of the 13 charges. | Pete Marovich, POLITICO Rangel guilty on 11 ethics charges

Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) has been found guilty on 11 ethics charges, ending a two-year investigation into his personal finances.

A special eight-member panel of the House ethics committee, after deliberating for roughly six hours, found that there was "clear and convincing evidence" that Rangel had violated House ethics on 11 of the 13 charges he faced heading into a rare public ethics trial.


The panel deadlocked on one charge, and then folded another charge into a different count.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the full ethics committee, oversaw the trial. She indicated that the votes were unanimous, meaning all four Democrats on the bipartisan panel ruled against Rangel.

Rangel, who has been defiant through the entire two year investigation, is still refusing to accept the outcome of the ethics trial.

“How can anyone have confidence in the decision of the Ethics Subcommittee when I was deprived of due process rights, right to counsel and was not even in the room?” Rangel said in a statement. “I can only hope that the full committee will treat me more fairly, and take into account my entire 40 years of service to the Congress before making any decisions on sanctions.

“I am disappointed by the unfortunate findings of the Ethics Subcommittee,” Rangel continued. “The committee's actions are unprecedented in view of the fact that they arrived at without rebuttal or counter evidence on my behalf.”

One House Republican has already called on Rangel to resign.

"I think that he should resign. He has received every procedural accommodation,” said Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.). “And the committee has unambiguously decided against him”

Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and other Democratic leaders, who are facing their own internal problems facing the GOP triumph on Election Day, have yet to comment on Rangel’s guilty verdict as well.

At this point, Rangel is expected to request a personal appearance before the full ethics committee when it meets to decide what sanctions to impose, said Democratic insiders. The list of punishments Rangel faces range from a “letter of reproval” all the way up to expulsion, with a formal reprimand or censure considered the most likely options.

Lofgren said she would talk to her GOP counterpart, Rep. Jo Bonner (Ala.), to decide when a sanctions hearing will take place, although it is likely to occur this week.

“I have to talk to the ranking member [Bonner] to see when can do it. It’s a scheduling issue,” Lofgren told reporters. “Hopefully it will be promptly.”

Rangel, 80, walked out of his ethics trial on Monday, complaining that he had not been given enough time to find new legal counsel after parting ways with his previous law firm last month. The full ethics committee will now consider punishment for Rangel, and possibly refer the case to the House floor with a recommendation for a sanction against the lawmaker.

The sweeping verdict on Tuesday morning offered a powerful conclusion to a two-year ethics investigation that has tarnished the political legacy of Rangel, a Harlem giant who was stripped of his Ways and Means chairmanship while he was under investigation. He came to the ethics trial as a diminished political figure, complaining that he did not have enough money for a lawyer.

"We have tried to act with fairness, led only by the facts and the law," Lofgren said. "We believe we have accomplished that mission."

Rangel offered a brief but spirited defense on Monday, then walked out after just 30 minutes, leaving the special adjudicatory panel to try him in abstentia. The bipartisan panel quickly heard the evidence and agreed in less than 24 hours that Rangel had violated a wide range of ethics rules.

Rangel was facing a 13-count “Statement of Alleged Violation” that included allegations that he improperly solicited millions of dollars from corporate officials and lobbyists for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at The City College of New York, failed to disclose hundreds of thousands of dollars of income and assets on financial disclosure forms, maintained a rent-stabilized apartment in a luxury Harlem apartment building for his campaign committee, and failed to pay income taxes on a villa in the Dominican Republic.

Rangel spent more than $2 million on lawyers to represent him during the long ethics probe, but then cut his ties to his leading law firm, Zuckerman Spaeder, just weeks ago in a dispute over money and tactics.

That left Rangel without counsel heading into Monday’s trial. He pleaded with Lofgren and other members of the special panel for more time to get a new lawyer, but his colleagues ruled against him.

Rangel then dramatically walked out of the proceedings, claiming his due process rights were violated.

Next up for the ethics committee is a Nov. 29 trial for Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), who has been charged with three counts of providing improper assistance during the 2008 financial to a minority bank where her husband owned $350,000 in stock.

Waters has denied any wrongdoing and, like Rangel, sought an open trial before the ethics committee.

While a guilty verdict almost seemed a foregone conclusion after Rangel walked out Monday's trial, his colleagues still expressed admiration for him personally and praised his long career in public service, including the Korean War and 40 years in Congresss.

"I have enormous respect for Charlie. He has served his country and his government," said Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.). "It's clear he made some major and minor errors."

Lowey said that she hoped the full House would not be forced to vote on a punishment for Rangel, something required for more serious sanctions.

Watchdog groups, however, wasted no time in calling for Rangel - recently reelected by a huge margin, despite the ongoing scandal - to resign from Congress.

“All of Mr. Rangel's theatrics aside, the facts were clear: Mr. Rangel violated numerous House rules and federal law," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibilty and Ethics in Washington. "Whether these violations were deliberate or inadvertent, the American people deserve to be represented by members of Congress who adhere to the highest ethical standards. Mr. Rangel should resign.”

For their part, House GOP leaders are content to let Democrats deal with the Rangel scandal on their own. Their feeling is that Rangel is a Democratic headache, and Democrats must now clean it up.

"We've got other things on our plate right now," said a top House GOP leadership aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "Let the Democrats handle it."