It looks like it’s a choice of leaving on your own two feet or getting hoisted up by your collar and thrown out of the bar. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer pretty much lays it out that way:

The House’s second-ranking Democrat on Tuesday said Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) will decide on his own whether to resign his seat or go forward with Thursday’s ethics inquiry.

Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told reporters he did not know what Rangel’s decision would be. The Ethics Committee on Thursday is scheduled to convene publicly to spell out its charges against the New York Democrat.

If Hoyer is saying the choice is between resign or face the trial, than the outcome of the trial would be expulsion.