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US Senator charged with hiding gifts
Veteran Republican US Senator Ted Stevens was charged on Tuesday with concealing more than $250,000 worth of gifts, including home renovations, that he received from an Alaska oil services company, the Justice Department said.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:02 July 31, 2008
Washington: Veteran Republican US Senator Ted Stevens was charged on Tuesday with concealing more than $250,000 worth of gifts, including home renovations, that he received from an Alaska oil services company, the Justice Department said.
The Alaska politician, who has served 40 years in the Senate, was charged in a federal grand jury indictment with seven counts of making false statements on his Senate financial disclosure forms from 2001 to 2006, the department said.
Stevens denied the charges but said he stepped down as required by party rules as top Republican on the Democratic-led Commerce Committee, Appropriations Subcommittee on Defence and Homeland Security subcommittee on Disaster Recovery. He gave no indication he planned to resign from the Senate.
"I am innocent of these charges and intend to prove that," Stevens said in a statement. "I have never knowingly submitted a false disclosure form required by law as a US senator."
There was no immediate indication that Republicans would try to pressure Stevens to resign, but it was "unclear how things will develop," a Republican aide said.
Patti Higgins, chair of the Alaska Democratic Party, said Stevens "should step down." She said, "Alaskans need representation in the Senate that they can trust."
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