The following is a fact-check from the September 5, 2010 episode of Meet the Press:
DAVID PLOUFFE | The Republican Party, when it controlled the House of Representatives, tried to change the rules to allow the majority leader to still serve if they were indicted – TRUE
MR. PLOUFFE: These are the–this is the party that tried to change the rules to allow the majority leader to still serve if he was indicted.
In an investigation of alleged illegal corporate contributions to a political action committee in 2004, three of Tom Delay’s associates, Jim Ellis, John Colyandro, and Warren Robold were indicted by grand jurors in Texas. The investigation involved charges that included raising illegal corporate contributions and funneling them to Republican candidates in the 2002 elections. Then, House Republicans proposed changing their rules to allow members indicted by state grand juries to remain in a leadership position, which would of benefited, then House Majority Leader Tom DeLay in case he was charged by the Texas grand jury.
Tom Delay was eventually indicted by a Texas grand jury on a charge of criminally conspiring with two political associates to infuse illegal corporate contributions into the 2002 state elections, which helped the Republican Party reorder the congressional map in Texas to increase its control of the House in Washington. Five years later, Tom Delay still hasn’t had a trial for the alleged criminal charges.
We rate David Plouffe’s statement TRUE .
The following fact-check took 2 hours to complete.