letter to speaker pelosi asking her to grant me a leave of absence. shepard: this comes after the house s ethics committee found congressman rangel accepted corporate money for trips to the caribbean. he denies he did anything wrong. there is a lot at stake here. congressman rangel is considered the most influential tax-writing lawmaker in all of congress. this is his 20th term in the house. it s also worth noting he actually succeeded adam clayton powell jr., another prominent congressman accused of corruption. today, perhaps it s all come full circle as congressman rangle faces trouble and looks for support. steve centanni in d.c. what reaction so far. well, shep, for many democrats it s probably a big relief as rangel himself said now they won t have to defend him in their election campaigns this year. speaker pelosi accepted rangel s decision and praised his leadership over the decades.
well, he is considered the most influential tax writing lawmaker in all of congress. our national correspondent steve centanni with the news tonight live on capitol hill. steve, some new evidence today about what exactly congressman rangel s staff told him. right, shep. documents released by the ethics committee show his staff trying to warn him about the corporate sponsorship of those meetings in the caribbean. the says issued two memos in 2008 and memo in 2009 spelling out the nature of the events. rangel says he denied ever seeing such communications, shep. shepard: when congressman rangel held a news conference last evening after this newscast. that s right. he said he is not responsible for actions by his staff. he refuses to step down as chairman of the house ways and means. today though his office put out an oicial response to the ethics committee it says in part:
the house ways and means committee, which means he s the most powerful tax writing lawmaker in congress. where is this story going to go? good morning, i m bill hemmer on a friday morning. it s snowy out there. martha: good morning, everybody, i m martha maccallum. rangel says he s done nothing wrong, here s the congressman defending himself late last night. common sense deck tates that members of congress should not be held responsible for what could be the wrongdoing or mistakes or regards of or errors of staff unless there s reason to believe that the member knew or should have known. asking me questions would just embarrass me because i can t give you answers. martha: if the member knew or should have known is what he said. rangel still faces ongoing investigations into other financial dealings, so not completely off the hook yet. bill: leading our coverage,
the pacific ocean off japan. the moment i get more information i ll bring it to you. foyers to one of the most powerful congressmen in the house much representatives, charlie rangel is in deep trouble. the house panel found he broke rules when a private corporation paid for caribbean trips in 2007 and 2008. congressman rangel insists he would not resign. he s the chairman of the powerful house ways and means committee that makes decisions on medicare, social security, jobless benefits and welfare programs, considered the most influential tax writing lawmaker in all of congress. steve is in washington. what s the ethics panel staying about these controversial trips? we ve been hearing about this for months. they claimed they got false
accident. itunes now has a winner. willie purchased his latest itunes song at the right time. the company announced thursday that he downloaded the 10 billionth song from the music star website. the georgia man won a $10,000 gift card for his lucky purchase of johnny cash s guess things happen that way. the most powerful tax writing lawmaker in capitol hill is facing new fire this morning. a house ethics committee will announce today that congressman charlie rangel, democrat from new york, violated house rules when he accepted trips to the caribbean from companies that did business with congress. it is news reverberating through the halls of congress. luke russert joins us live with more. luke? reporter: good morning, david. what a day for charlie rangel yesterday. around 6:00, his press office sent out a release, touting his performance at the health care summit. around 6:30, word leaked out that the ethics committee was