Capitol Hill's most celebrated ethics trial in years continued Monday without the defendant after Rep. Charles B. Rangel, New York Democrat, walked out on the proceedings, claiming he was not given the time to prepare a defense and lacked the money to pay for an attorney to represent him.

The 80-year-old Mr. Rangel, a one-time chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and one of the most powerful black lawmakers in Congress, stunned colleagues at the start of an adjudicatory hearing of the House Committee on the Standards of Official Conduct, announcing he would not offer a defense in the probe into charges he abused his office and violated House rules on financial reporting and fundraising...