Rangel Safe With Democrats in Power

While the Eric Holder-led Justice Department is going after fictional wrongdoing in the CIA, real wrongdoing in Congress is being ignored, and that's just fine with House Democrats:

House Democrats are willing to rally around Rep. Charles Rangel in his latest spate of tax missteps -- but only as long as no more embarrassing revelations come to light, sources told The Post.

The head of the powerful Ways and Means Committee last week amended six years' worth of financial disclosure forms and revealed he'd earned $1.3 million in previously unreported income.

That's on top of ongoing House Ethics Committee probes into four other areas of Rangel's financial past -- including failure to properly report income taxes on a Caribbean villa he owns.

But unless the Ethics Committee probes hit Rangel with something more than a slap on the wrist -- or a bigger scandal arises -- Democrats are unlikely to push him off the Ways and Means Committee, a Washington insider said.

"He doesn't strike me as someone who would go quietly, and he's not afraid to play the race card on his own party," the DC source said.

Friends like House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, members of the Congressional Black Caucus and the New York delegation are committed to keeping Rangel in place, sources said.

Of course, if something else comes up, well....then the Democrats will give him one more chance.

And then another. And another.....