Maxine Waters investigation: House ethics committee hires outside counsel

The embattled House ethics committee has hired outside counsel to “review, advise, and assist” in its investigation of Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters of Los Angeles. But it's also asking the lawyer to examine the conduct of the Ethics Committee itself.

The new hire is a former U.S. Attorney and criminal defense lawyer Billy Martin. The committee says its rules allow it to bring in an outside investigator when it’s “necessary and appropriate.” Waters is accused of using political clout to help a bank in which her husband owned stock. Emails leaked to Politicoindicate evidence from the case was improperly shown to the head of the House Ethics Committee, Republican Rep. Jo Bonner of Alabama.

The committee says Billy Martin was hired to resolve the Waters case “with the utmost care, diligence, and integrity.”

But first, it’s asked Martin to make his top priority to make a “thorough review” of all the allegations made against the Ethics Committee itself.

In a statement, Congresswoman Waters says “given what’s already in the public domain, it’s hard to imagine that a deeper review into the committee’s conduct would do anything but reveal more troubling information.” She says findings of the investigation should be made public and is “confident” Martin will conclude further investigation of her case is not warranted.

Melanie Sloan of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington welcomed Billy Martin’s examination of the Ethics Committee and agreed his conclusions about the committee should be made public before any further action is taken in the Waters matter.

Martin's contract expires in January of next year, or when he's billed the committee for the half million dollars in legal fees it has authorized.