Zoe Lofgren: “I was the ranking member on the investigative subcommittee serving with the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Hastings)…”

“I was the ranking member on the investigative subcommittee serving with the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Hastings), examining the testimony and evidence presented during the trial. The subcommittee unanimously concluded that the evidence showed that the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Traficant) engaged in official misconduct of the most serious nature. He traded his official office and powers repeatedly for money, free labor, equipment at his farm and other things. He did so repeatedly and with several different people and companies. He demanded and received tens of thousands of dollars, with salary kickbacks from his congressional employees. He filed two false income tax returns that failed to report more than $75,000 in income from gratuities. As I mentioned earlier, the trial lasted more than 30 days with over 6,000 pages of transcript, more than 50 witnesses called for the prosecution and 29 by the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Traficant). We took this testimony and reviewed it, but we made an independent review of the sworn testimony and other evidence during the trial, and we unanimously decided that the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Traficant) should be charged with violation of House rules based on the evidence, not criminal charges.”