Tom DeLay goes on trial!
AUSTIN, Texas - November 1, 2010 - Tom DeLay, the Republican leader known as "The Hammer" for his brass knuckles style, stood before a jury Monday and declared he never crossed the line into criminally dirty politics.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I am not guilty," the former U.S. House majority leader said after an indictment was read accusing DeLay of money laundering and conspiracy.
The trial began a day before U.S. voters head to the polls for mid-term elections in which Republicans are expected to retake the House of Representatives and cut deeply into the Democrats' Senate majority.
At the heart of the case is one transaction: DeLay's political committee in Texas sent $190,000 of corporate donations to the Republican National Committee, which in turn donated the same amount to seven Texas candidates supported by DeLay.
Texas law prohibits corporate giving to candidates.
