Charles Rangel Says God Doesn’t Want Him To Cop A Plea

Don’t expect Congressman Charles Rangel to roll over any time soon — despite facing accusations of ethics violations, the prominent politician publicly called on his faith as part of the reason he continues to refuse to take a deal rather than avoid a potentially embarrassing trial.

Rep. Charles Rangel says God doesn’t want him to cop a plea.

Under pressure from Democratic colleagues to make a deal on ethics charges and avoid a public trial, the scandal-scarred congressman said Thursday that a higher authority told him not to settle.

“How lucky you are that God tells you you don’t have to take a plea,” a fired-up Rangel declared to a Harlem Week luncheon crowd at Columbia University, which gave him a standing ovation.

After his speech, Rangel backpedaled when asked about his claim to divine legal counsel.

“I exaggerated. I really didn’t talk to God. … I said that in the heat of the campaign, but no, She hasn’t spoken to me recently.”

Whatever his inspiration, Rangel delivered a sermonlike defense of his decision to fight the charges, including some sly digs at fellow Dems scurrying away from him.

The 80-year-old Harlem Democrat compared himself to a suspect wrongly accused of bank robbery whose lawyers urge him to plea-bargain, saying, “If you cut a deal, this judge is prepared to let you walk away with dignity.”

President Obama has said he hopes Rangel ends his career with “dignity.” Democrats, meanwhile, worry that if Rangel’s case goes to trial in September, the party will be hurt in fall elections.

Rangel, continuing his story, seemed to mock the notion that he should cave in for political expediency:

“One might say, ‘Counselor, I haven’t done anything. I didn’t even work in the bank,’ but the lawyer replies, ‘Nobody has said you’ve done anything wrong. This is just a bad time to have trials about where you were. We have to get rid of this thing.'”

Rangel, who faces 13 ethics violation charges and had to surrender the chairmanship of the Ways and Means Committee this year, vowed not to take a deal. He called plea bargaining “an old English, Anglo-Saxon procedure.”

Rangel is still widely expected to beat rivals, including Assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell 4th, in the Sept. 14 primary and still has the support of several Manhattan party leaders.

We’re not saying he’s guilty but politicians and preachers have been considered some of the shadiest occupations out. And why all the talk about God if he didn’t really speak to “her”? SMH.

What do you think will happen if Rangel goes to trial?

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