Criminally indicted former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay yesterday laid out a strong case…against himself.
Each of the points below were spoken verbatim by DeLay during an interview last night on Fox News (we’ve compiled them all into a single video). If this is his “defense,” he’s in serious trouble.
Watch the DeLay compilation: Quicktime Streaming
— I have had ethics charges filed starting in 1993 — Again in 1995 — A racketeering suit right after that — Some more ethics charges right after that — This has been going on for two years, multiple grand juries, and then they come out with an indictment — [The grand jury] asked me to come in. … Basically what I showed them was, yes, it was my idea to set up this political action committee — It was my idea to set up TRMPAC — I got it all organized — I and four other elected officials were on an advisory board [of TRMPAC] — I went to five fundraisers — They did use my name to raise money — They told me about it later, and then they would tell me things are going well — Jim Ellis … also runs my ARMPAC — Jim Ellis would let me know how things were going because was interested in how things are going and how much money they were raising — The point here is is Texas deserved a Republican House of Representatives. The way you got change that was to take the majority in the Texas House, and that was my goal. It was successful — Ronnie Earle let my lawyers know last week that I was going to be indicted — I have hired Dick DeGuerin, who is my lawyer, who is the same lawyer that taught Ronnie Earle a lesson