If you thought Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) was going to quietly fade away, you were wrong:
A combative Rep. Charles Rangel told the House Tuesday he's not resigning despite 13 charges of wrongdoing and demanded the ethics committee not leave him "swinging in the wind."
Rangel, who is 80, spoke without notes in an extraordinary, often emotional 37-minute speech that defied his lawyers' advice to keep quiet about his case. The New York Democrat and 40-year House veteran had a sharp message in dismissing fellow Democrats who — worried about election losses — want him to quit,
"If I can't get my dignity back here, then fire your best shot in getting rid of me through expulsion," he said.
Watch it: