Rep. Maxine Waters, a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, dismissed a House ethics report Monday that called for further investigation into her relationship with a bank that received Troubled Asset Relief Program funds.
The report said that the California Democrat "may have violated" a House rule "by permitting compensation to accrue to her beneficial interest."
The report questions Waters' involvement in a 2008 meeting between then-Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and the National Bankers Association, which she helped to facilitate. The meeting focused on OneUnited Bank, a minority-owned Internet bank in Boston. Waters' husband, Sidney Williams, served on the board of OneUnited from 2004 to 2008 and still held investments in it.
The bank subsequently received $12 million of Tarp funds.
"I have not violated any House rules," Waters said in a press release Monday.
The longtime lawmaker said she will seek a trial rather than settle ethics allegations.
"I simply will not be forced to admit to something I did not do and instead have chosen to respond to charges made by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct in a public hearing," she said.
"The [ethics panel] also failed to show that I received any benefit or engaged in any 'improper exercise of official influence.' "
