Report: Cocaine-Using Congressman to Resign

Trey Radel to submit resignation letter this morning, say sources
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 27, 2014 7:57 AM CST
Report: Cocaine-Using Congressman to Resign
This Sept. 3, 2013, file photo, shows Rep. Henry "Trey" Radel, R-Fla., on Capitol Hill.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

It looks like Trey Radel's "leave of absence" will become a permanent one. The freshman Republican from Florida, who in November pleaded guilty to cocaine possession, will send a letter of resignation to John Boehner today, multiple sources tell Politico. Radel is currently on probation for the drug charge and took a voluntary unpaid leave of absence to enter rehab. He returned to Congress after the holiday recess, only to be met with calls for him to step down—from Republicans like Gov. Rick Scott, reports the New York Daily News.

For example, a Florida sheriff who had considered running against him in a Republican primary had this to say in early January: "The sad reality is that Trey Radel does not even qualify to drive a Lee County school bus ... I have hundreds of inmates in our jail … due to similar or lesser drug offenses," the Huffington Post reports. He also called Radel's treatment "a microwave stint in rehab." (More Trey Radel stories.)

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