国众议院道德调查人员指控曾经权力很大的众议员查尔斯•兰格尔(Charles Rangel)违反了国会规定，此前两年中这位前国会税法起草委员会主席曾面临一系列重大指控。
据众议院道德委员会周四的一份声明说，纽约州民主党众议员兰格尔将有机会在下周开始的众议院道德委员会公开审讯中为自己辩护。该委员会的前身为公职行为标准委员会(House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct)。
如果兰格尔被查出有罪，他可能会被开除公职。现年80岁的兰格尔在众议院任职近40年，他在国会工作的时间甚至比一些年轻议员的年龄还要长。
兰格尔周四在一份声明中说，最终，阳光将刺破媒体对我严重指控的阴云。我将很高兴在道德委员会公布对我的指控时做出回应。
道德委员会要到下周才会详细说明对兰格尔的具体指控。
国会道德调查人员此前一直在调查兰格尔在多米尼加共和国购置的一处出租房的钱是哪里来的。他的一位律师说，他10多年都没有支付抵押贷款利息。兰格尔曾说，他在这座房产的租金收入没有缴税，这是一个无心之错。
调 查人员也在调查兰格尔是否曾利用印有国会抬头的信纸写筹资信函，发给各公司和其他寻求为纽约市立学院(City College of New York)查尔斯•兰格尔公益服务中心(Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service)捐款的人士。
House ethics investigators have accused once-powerful Rep. Charles Rangel of breaking congressional rules, following a series of high-profile allegations against the former chief of the chamber's tax-writing committee over the past two years.
Mr. Rangel, a Democrat from New York, will have the opportunity to defend himself at a public trial before the House ethics committee beginning next week, according to a statement Thursday from the panel, formally known as the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct.
If found guilty, Mr. Rangel could be expelled from office. With nearly 40 years of service in the House, the 80-year-old lawmaker has been in Congress longer than some of its younger members have been alive.
Mr. Rangel said Thursday in a statement that 'at long last, sunshine will pierce the cloud of serious allegations that have been raised against me in the media. I will be glad to respond to the allegations at such time as the ethics committee makes them public.'
The committee won't detail the specific charges against Mr. Rangel until next week.
Congressional ethics investigators had been reviewing how Mr. Rangel financed the purchase of a rental property in the Dominican Republic; one of his attorneys has said Mr. Rangel paid no mortgage interest for more than a decade. Mr. Rangel has said he made an honest mistake in not paying taxes on rental income from the property.
Investigators also have been reviewing whether Mr. Rangel used congressional letterhead for fund-raising letters he sent to corporations and others seeking donations for the Charles B. Rangel Center for Public Service at the City College of New York.