GOP Leadership Will Hold Fire On Rangel

House Republican leaders intend to keep their powder dry as the public ethics trial of embattled Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) unfolds.

Throughout the 111th Congress, House GOP lawmakers have offered measures targeting Rangel. But don’t expect one this week.

Republicans are employing a don’t-get-in-the-way-of-your-enemies-when-they-are-destroying-themselves strategy, the same game plan Democrats employed as Republicans grappled with ethics scandals in 2006.

According to several leadership sources, top-ranking Republicans hope that the former Ways and Means Committee chairman fights charges of ethical wrongdoing.

“We want him fighting this tooth and nail. The more defiant he is, the better it is for us,” a GOP leadership aide told The Hill on Monday.

Another Republican leadership aide noted that Republicans can only sit back and watch as the “spectacle” unfolds on Thursday, when the ethics committee will detail its charges against Rangel.

House GOP conference Chairman Mike Pence (Ind.) on Monday discouraged his colleagues from introducing resolutions on the floor while the ethics committee works its will.

“I was heartened to see the ethics committee move forward with this investigation. Now that the ethics committee has assumed its responsibility, it is important that we tone down the politics and let the ethics committee do its job,” Pence told reporters Monday.

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