Report: Charlie Rangel Gives Up His Gavel...Or Does He?

It seems last week's admonishment of Rep. Charlie Rangel was the scandal that broke the New York Democrat's teflon coating. NBC news is reporting that Rangel has given up his chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee this evening before his fellow Representatives had a chance to take it away from him.

Sources told NBC that Rangel "had been encouraged to step aside" by Democrats "before the House voted on a bill to strip him of his chairmanship."

Late Update: A few minutes ago, Rangel briefed reporters on Capitol Hill. Tweets from the appearance suggest the the situation is more fluid than NBC's original report might suggest.

ABC News' Rick Klein just tweeted, "Rangel plot thickens. asked by reporters if he will remain chairman, Rangel said: "You bet your life."

Earlier in the evening ABC News also reported that Rangel would be stepping aside. But according to ABC's report, Rangel "is negotiating with Democratic leaders to step down temporarily" from the chairmanship while ethics investigations into his conduct unfold.

Later Updates: NBC's Luke Russert, who along with colleague Chuck Todd first reported the Rangel story, just tweeted news that seems to confirm ABC's report of that Rangel will step aside only temporarily. Russert tweets, "Dem source to me: Rangel will take a 'leave of absence' from his Chairmanship tomorrow till 'ethics investigation is over.'"

As for Rangel, he says he's still in charge of the Ways and Means Commitee. Rangel left a closed-door meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this evening "to declare that he's still the chairman," Politico reports, "and hasn't agreed to give up his gavel."

Pelosi muddied the waters further with a comment she gave to The Hill as she left the closed-door meeting.

"I guess he is still chair of Ways and Means," she cryptically told the paper.

Later Update: Rangel's hometown paper, the New York Times, weighed in on the story after the TV network blogs and Politico had their go at it. From the Times report:

As he left his crisis meeting with party leaders at about 8 p.m., Mr. Rangel insisted that he was not stepping down. Asked if he was going to remain as chairman, he said, "You bet your life."

Pushed on whether he would step aside temporarily, he replied, flatly, "No."

He said he was headed back to his office to work on jobs legislation, and when a reporter asked if he would still be the committee chairman on Wednesday, Mr. Rangel said, "Yes, and I don't lie to the press."