White House backs ethics proceedings against Rangel

The White House stressed the need Friday for the ethics process to proceed in due course against fellow Democratic Rep. Charlie Rangel (N.Y.).

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said the administration believed in letting ethics proceedings go forward against Rangel, who was formally charged on Thursday with 13 charges by the bipartisan House Ethics Committee.

"There's a bipartisan committee looking into some very serious charges," Gibbs said during an interview on NBC's "Today" show. "We think that's the right step to take."

The administration has been largely silent so far on the charges against Rangel, which Democrats concerned their precarious election-year situation could be worsened further with a messy ethics trial. Gibbs deflected most questions on Thursday about the case during his daily press briefing. Democrats swept into power in Congress in 2006 in part due to Republicans' own ethics problems while in control of the House and Senate.

"I feel confident that this party and this president have a record on ethics reform that we're happy to put before the American people in November," Gibbs said on ABC's "Good Morning America."

There had been talk of Rangel cutting a deal with the ethics panel on Thursday, as some House Democrats called for his resignation. But Gibbs said that President Obama and other White House officials have stayed out of the process, and that it was up to Rangel and no one else to decide whether or not to strike a deal on the charges.

"That's not for us to decide," the press secretary explained on NBC. "That's for Congressman Rangel to decide."

Gibbs said that Obama and other top administration officials haven't spoken to Rangel about the charges.

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