[...] "In the future, when we set the time for the hearing, unless there's some reason in advance, we need you to be here," Hefley told Traficant.

"I apologize to the committee," Traficant said. "If I had known, I would be here. I was on other media broadcasts trying to demean you and everybody else." He later told Hefley he was just joking.

After the nine-week trial in Cleveland during which Traficant defended himself without a lawyer, he was convicted in April of taking kickbacks from employees and soliciting bribes and other gifts from businessmen.

Just like then, Traficant, though not a lawyer, defended himself Monday before the congressional panel, which is considering whether to recommend his ejection from Congress. And for the first time, Traficant put himself on the witness stand.

Stalking around his table, Traficant shouted insults, occasional obscenities and scatological references into his microphone as he wrote and drew on an easel to demonstrate shapes of rooms and names of witnesses he said lied about him and their dealings.

"They've gone back 15 years looking for cash transactions," he shouted in the cavernous House Armed Services Committee room, where the hearing is being held. "They couldn't find one person."

He also butted heads with the committee lawyers, who objected frequently to his scattershot testimony. "I object to these objections," Traficant said angrily at one time.

But on Tuesday, he sounded more conciliatory. Appearing on C-SPAN, Traficant said he expects his colleagues to vote him out of Congress, but said he doesn't hold that against them. "I harbor no hard feelings," he said. [...]