Rep. Maxine Waters defends Rangel by alleging all Congressmen are crooks.

On MSNBC, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said Democratic Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Charles Rangel, should not step down from his powerful committee leadership position. Rangel is accused of under reporting over one million dollars in income during the 2002 to 2006 tax years. Rep. Maxine Waters said,

"I want to tell you, there are many members who, if you go back over all of their records, over all of the years, you're going to find that there were disclosures that were not made,

This isn't just a matter of disclosure. Rangel found $1.3 million in income he allegedly forgot to report. If Rangel were very rich, he might be able to overlook $1.3 million in income. He isn't. He has reported as little as $168 thousand in some recent income years. Rangel has a long history of tax problems.

The Hill reported:

"Many members" of Congress suffer from the same disclosure issues as Rep. Charles Rangel (D.N.Y.), one of his allies said Wednesday.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) downplayed the seriousness of allegations against Rangel that he failed to disclose sources of income and pay taxes on some properties, saying that many lawmakers suffer from innocent lapses in judgment when filing mandatory financial disclosure forms.

"I want to tell you, there are many members who, if you go back over all of their records, over all of the years, you're going to find that there were disclosures that were not made," Waters said during an appearance on MSNBC Wednesday morning.

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