Texas foreman: "abundant evidence"

Looks like Tom DeLay's pot of water just got a little hotter. A second money laundering charge. Via the Daily DeLay, the Associated Press reports:

A Texas grand jury on Monday indicted U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay on a charge of money laundering, less than a week after another grand jury leveled a conspiracy charge that forced DeLay to temporarily step down as House majority leader.

Take the time to listen to the Sunday NPR segment on William Gibson Jr., the foreman of the first Texas grand jury that indicted Congressman Tom DeLay. He takes some umbrage at the GOP meme that he is the patsy in a partisan witchhunt. Consider Bob Novak, who verges on hysteria in his latest.

This Associated Press piece has been run pretty widely, and shows DeLay publicly claiming to retain his Majority Leader power, while other leadership colleagues beg to differ. What fun.

While we are still mainly seeing the public relations effort of castigating the DA, a glimmer of a legal strategy emerges:

DeLay said he allowed his name to be used for fundraisers and participated in several of them, but vehemently denied knowing about or intending any illegal activity. Instead, he said, he asked that associates consult with lawyers to make sure their activity was proper.

"I did nothing wrong," DeLay said Sunday. "I had nothing to do with the day-to-day operation. It was my idea to form this group. I helped to organize it. I have other things to do. I stepped away and moved on."

So, all the histrionics about "frivolity" aside, DeLay is acknowledging that TRMPAC was most likely breaking the law.