Rep. Maxine Waters blasted the ethics panel, saying that their 'weak' case had unraveled. Waters ethics trial delayed

The House ethics committee will delay the start of an ethics trial for Rep. Maxine Waters, the panel announced on Friday.

In a statement from Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Jo Bonner (R-Ala.), the chairwoman and ranking member of the committee, the two lawmakers said the panel “voted to recommit the matter regarding Maxine Waters to the investigative subcommittee due to materials discovered that may have had an effect on the investigative subcommittee’s transmittal to the committee.”


The trial for the California Democrat had been scheduled to begin Nov. 29, but with the ethics committee now reinvestigating the case, it is likely to hold over until the 112th Congress, which convenes in January.

Waters blasted the ethics panel in a Friday afternoon statement, saying that the “weak” case had become unraveled.

“I am disappointed that the committee is once again postponing my hearing and showing a complete disregard for due process and fairness,” Waters said.

“… The public expects those who judge to hold themselves to their own rules,” Waters continued. “Today, the committee has brought discredit upon itself and this institution by denying me, and more importantly my constituents, the right to set the record straight.”

Waters has been charged with three counts of violating House ethics rules for allegedly intervening with the Treasury Department during the 2008 financial crisis on behalf of a minority owned bank where her husband owned more than $350,000 of stock.

Waters, a senior member of the Financial Services Committee, has denied any wrongdoing, and like her colleague, Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel of New York, asked for an ethics trial to contest the charges.

Rangel was found guilty of 11 ethics violations this week, and the ethics committee has recommended that he be censured by the House.

The postponement of Waters's trial means that the ethics committee has freed itself of the specter of back-to-back proceedings against senior African-American lawmakers.

It's anyone's guess as to whether the delay helps Waters by demonstrating that the committee hadn't finished its work when it first pointed an accusatory finger at her or if it hurts her by taking away the contrast of the more serious charges against Rangel and the discomfort lawmakers on both sides of the aisle might have with public prosecutions of venerable members of the black caucus.

Waters did not immediately respond to the announcement, but she is likely to continue her full-scale assault on the committee's work and its processes in the coming days.