On the June 4 edition of ABC's World News with Charles Gibson, ABC News chief political correspondent Jake Tapper reported that, following the June 4 federal corruption indictment of Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA), “Republicans ... pushed to have Jefferson expelled from Congress.” Tapper added that “Democrats said the matter would be referred to the ethics committee,” suggesting that this referral was the only action the Democratic House leadership has taken with Jefferson. In fact, after the federal investigation into Jefferson's alleged corruption revealed in 2006 that Jefferson had allegedly stashed $90,000 in his home, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) stripped him of his Ways and Means committee assignment.

On June 4, Jefferson was indicted on 16 corruption-related counts including conspiracy to solicit bribes, money laundering, racketeering, and obstruction of justice. According to The New York Times, the indictment followed “a two-year inquiry” and charges “that from 2000 to 2005 Mr. Jefferson sought hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes, sometimes in the form of stock and retainer fees, from nearly a dozen companies in oil, communications, satellite transmission, sugar and other businesses, often for projects to be carried out in Africa.” As The Washington Post reported in May 2006, “according to a search warrant affidavit released yesterday,” Jefferson “was videotaped accepting $100,000 in $100 bills from a Northern Virginia investor who was wearing an FBI wire.” The affidavit further disclosed that “on Aug. 3, 2005, FBI agents raided Jefferson's home in Northeast Washington” and, as Tapper noted, reportedly “turned up $90,000 in his freezer, wrapped in aluminum foil, and placed in frozen food containers.”

Yet Tapper did not report that, following the affidavit's release in May 2006 disclosing the FBI raid on Jefferson's D.C. home, Pelosi asked him to resign from his seat on the Ways and Means Committee while he was under investigation. When Jefferson refused, House Democrats voted to remove Jefferson from the committee. Additionally, when the Democrats won control of Congress in the midterm elections, Pelosi and other Democratic leaders -- over objections from the Congressional Black Caucus -- decided that Jefferson would not be given back his position on the House Ways and Means Committee following his re-election, as the Post reported in December 2006.

Further, according to The New York Times, Pelosi “intends to convene a leadership meeting this week, aides said, to discuss taking away” Jefferson's seat on the Small Business Committee, the only remaining committee of which he is a member. CNN's Political Ticker later reported on June 5 that Jefferson “has temporarily stepped down from his post on the House Small Business Committee”:

Jefferson informed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, of his decision in a letter dated Tuesday, writing, “I have supported every ethics and lobbying reform measure that you and our Democratic Majority have authored, and I make this request for leave to support the letter and the spirit of your leadership in this area.”

“In doing so, I of course, express no admission of guilt or culpability in that or any other matter that may be pending in any court or before the House of Representatives,” he added.

In addition, Tapper did not report the following statement issued by Pelosi following Jefferson's indictment:

“The charges in the indictment against Congressman Jefferson are extremely serious. While Mr. Jefferson, just as any other citizen, must be considered innocent until proven guilty, if these charges are proven true, they constitute an egregious and unacceptable abuse of public trust and power.

”As we have demonstrated in implementing tough ethics reforms and passing tough lobbying reforms already this year, Democrats are committed to upholding a high ethical standard and eliminating corruption and unethical behavior from the Congress."

Pelosi made similar remarks following the 2005 indictment of then-Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX). For instance, during an October 20, 2005, press conference, Pelosi stated that DeLay “is innocent until proven guilty” but went on to criticize his continued involvement in the Republican leadership: “I think that the fact that Tom DeLay is still involved in leadership decisions on the Republican side, if that is so, is a reflection of the tolerance that the Republican conference has for the culture of corruption and cronyism in the House of Representatives.”

From the June 4 edition of ABC's World News with Charles Gibson:

TAPPER: The government today presented a 16-count indictment right out of The Sopranos -- including money laundering, racketeering, and obstruction of justice. Charging the nine-term incumbent with using his influence to help telecommunications, oil, and sugar companies invest throughout Africa, in return for which he sought more than $8 million in payments for himself and his family.

Government prosecutors charged Jefferson today with turning his official congressional office into what they called a “corrupt enterprise.” What seemed most incriminating was when the FBI raid on his Washington, D.C., home turned up $90,000 in his freezer, wrapped in aluminum foil, and placed in frozen food containers.

Republicans today pushed to have Jefferson expelled from Congress. Democrats said the matter would be referred to the ethics committee. Jake Tapper, ABC News, Capitol Hill.