It’s official — House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has been indicted on one count of criminal conspiracy by a Texas grand jury. More soon.
Update 1: from the Austin American-Statesman
A Travis County grand jury today indicted U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on one count of criminal conspiracy, jeopardizing the Sugar Land Republican’s leadership role as the second most powerful Texan in Washington, D.C.
The charge, a state jail felony punishable by up to two years incarceration, stems from his role with his political committee, Texans for a Republican Majority, a now-defunct organization that already had been indicted on charges of illegally using corporate money during the 2002 legislative elections.
Update 2: The immediate question, of course, is what happens to DeLay’s position in the congressional leadership. House Republican Party rules require leaders who are indicted to step aside from their leadership posts, at least temporarily. As a result, DeLay — at least in the short term, will no longer be House Majority Leader. Speaker Hastert will reportedly recommend that Rep. David Dreier (R-Calif.) take over DeLay’s duties. Presumably, Dreier, if approved by the rest of the GOP caucus, will serve until DeLay’s trial is completed. That could be a while.
Update 3: The conventional wisdom, up until very recently, was that DeLay would avoid indictment. What happened? Originally, Travis County prosecutors said they could not pursue election code violations against DeLay because of jurisdiction restrictions — only DeLay’s local district attorney could pursue an indictment against DeLay for an elections violation, and since the local D.A. is a Republican and DeLay ally, he wasn’t about to take any action.
But, as the American-Statesman explained, today’s indictment wasn’t about elections law, it was about a conspiracy charge. That falls under the criminal code, which means Ronnie Earle can prosecute DeLay for conspiring with others to circumvent state law.