Congresswoman Maxine Waters has reignited her political career as one of the most outspoken leaders of the Trump “Resistance.” She regularly and often beats the drum of impeachment for the president. However, in August of 2010, it was Waters who was under legal scrutiny for her behavior as a government official. Waters was charged with three counts of violating House rules and the federal ethics code.
According to The Hill’s report from 2010:
The House ethics committee on Monday outlined its charges against Rep. Maxine Waters, who is accused of helping a bank in which her husband owned stock secure federal bailout funds.
The committee charged the 10-term California Democrat with three counts of violating House rules and the federal ethics code in connection with her effort to arrange a 2008 meeting between Treasury officials and representatives with OneUnited bank.
The panel said Waters, who sits on the Financial Services Committee, broke a House rule requiring members to behave in a way that reflects “creditably” on the chamber. The committee said that by trying to assist OneUnited, she stood to benefit directly, because her husband owned a sizable amount of stock that would have been “worthless” if the bank failed.
The committee also accused Waters of violating the “spirit” of a House rule prohibiting lawmakers from using their positions for financial gain, as well as a government ethics statute banning the dispensing of “special favors.”
The charges were delayed and stalled by members of the committee, and multiple attorneys in the case were fired. Ultimately, Waters was absolved of the charges.
According to National Review:
[Waters] walked away with a slap on the wrist from the toothless House Ethics Committee in 2012 after being charged with multiple ethics violations related to her meddling in minority-owned OneUnited Bank …
As stockholders, they profited handsomely from their relationship with the bank. It was a mutually beneficial relationship. After Waters’s office personally intervened and lobbied the Treasury Department in 2008, OneUnited received $12 million in federal TARP bailout money — despite another government agency concluding that the bank operated “without effective underwriting standards” and engaged “in speculative investment practices.
After the federal bailout of Fannie/Freddie, OneUnited’s stock in the government-sponsored enterprises plunged to a value estimated at less than $5 million. Only through Waters’s intervention was OneUnited able to secure an emergency meeting with the Treasury and then-Secretary Henry Paulson. Tom Fitton, Judicial Watch president, reported that Waters’s friend and fellow California Democratic congresswoman Zoe Lofgren helped delay Waters’s scheduled 2010 House ethics trial on the matter by stalling subpoenas and improperly firing two attorneys working on the investigation.
Six of ten House Ethics panel members quit the case in 2012 over questions about their partiality. An outside investigator absolved Waters of any wrongdoing.
In spite of getting off on the charges, Waters carries with her a terrible reputation for corruption. Please see this list for a rundown of all the numerous scandals and charges which have been brought against her. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has listed her as one of the most corrupt members of Congress five times.
Resist.
