LA Times-Rep. Maxine Waters Vehemently Denies Ethics Charges

Dem. Rep. Maxine Waters: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

(Story reported by Richard Simon for the Los Angeles Times)

Reporting from Washington —

In her most spirited defense against ethics charges, Rep. Maxine Waters (D- Los Angeles) on Friday refused to wait quietly for her trial, denying that she used her influence to aid a bank in which her husband has a financial interest. She also attacked ethics investigators for drawing the wrong conclusions from what she said was her lifetime work of trying to aid minority-owned businesses in general.

"I won't cut a deal," Waters vowed in her first Capitol Hill news conference since charges were brought.

It featured a PowerPoint presentation led by her chief of staff, who is also her grandson, aimed at rebutting the charges. When it concluded, the words: "No Benefit, No Improper Action, No Failure To Disclose, No One Influenced: No Case" flashed on the screen.

(click here to read the full story on the Los Angeles Times website)