Rangel says ethics panel’s report ‘exonerates’ him and that he won’t step down

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Longtime Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) says he will not step down as chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee even though the ethics committee found that he violated House rules by accepting corporate-sponsored trips to the Caribbean.

Rangel said Friday that the ethics report “exonerates” him because it says there is no evidence that he knew the trips were sponsored by corporations. The report said his staff knew who paid for the trips.

Rangel said he truly doesn’t understand why the committee admonished him.

-- Associated Press