WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida committed numerous violations of House rules and ethics standards, the House Ethics Committee found Friday in a ruling that could add weight to Republicans’ potential push to expel her from Congress.
After meeting into early Friday morning following a seven-hour hearing, the ethics panel of four Democrats and four Republicans found that Cherfilus-McCormick had committed 25 ethics violations, including breaking campaign finance laws. The panel said it would recommend a punishment in the coming weeks.
The allegations center on Cherfilus-McCormick’s receipt of millions of dollars from her family’s health care business following Florida’s overpayment of roughly $5 million in disaster relief funds. Cherfilus-McCormick is accused of using that money to fund her 2022 congressional campaign through a network of businesses and family members.
The congresswoman, who is running for a fourth term representing a southeastern Florida district, has denied wrongdoing, and her attorney stridently criticized Thursday’s public hearing — the first open proceeding in nearly 15 years. But the ruling from the Ethics Committee could fuel a potential vote on her expulsion and divide a Democratic caucus that is trying to make a comeback to power in the November midterm elections.
Cherfilus-McCormick also faces federal charges for allegedly stealing $5 million in COVID-19 disaster relief funds and using the funds to purchase items such as a 3-carat yellow diamond ring. Her brother, former chief of staff and her accountant were also charged. She has pleaded not guilty to those charges, and her attorney indicated Thursday that the trial is expected to start in the coming months.
“I look forward to proving my innocence," Cherfilus-McCormick said in a statement. "Until then, my focus remains where it belongs: showing up for the great people of Florida’s 20th District who sent me to Washington to fight for them.”
What did the Ethics panel find her guilty of?
The congresswoman declined to testify during Thursday’s ethics hearing, citing her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Her attorney, William Barzee, sparred with some of the lawmakers on the ethics panel and argued that they should have allowed a thorough ethics trial, where he could present witnesses and evidence to counter the conclusions of House investigators.
Barzee accused the panel of giving further momentum to the effort to “throw a woman out of Congress who was duly elected by her constituents” based primarily on bank records.
Committee investigators laid out 27 violations of House ethics standards and rules in a 242-page report. The report accused Cherfilus-McCormick of winning a 2022 special election by portraying her campaign as self-financed when it was actually funded through the $5 million overpayment her family’s company received from Florida for coronavirus vaccination services.
Barzee had argued that “she was entitled to that money,” citing a document detailing how her family would share the proceeds from the health care business. But lawmakers on the ethics panel were skeptical of that argument.
The panel found Cherfilus-McCormick guilty of all but two of the ethics violations proposed by investigators. Lawmakers declined to find her guilty on one allegation that she received political help from an organization run by an adviser and her husband, which received funding from the Haitian government. The panel also did not find her guilty of refusing to cooperate with the ethics investigation.
Will there be a push to expel Cherfilus-McCormick?
The full House Ethics Committee said it would meet after Congress returns from a two-week break in April and consider what punishment to recommend for a vote in the House.
Rep. Greg Steube, a Florida Republican, told reporters Thursday that once the committee makes a determination, he “will move on the floor to expel.”
House Democratic leaders have declined to condemn Cherfilus-McCormick and said they wanted to see the ethics process play out. A couple of members of the Congressional Black Caucus, one of the most powerful groups of Democratic members, also showed up to the start of the ethics hearing Thursday in an apparent show of support for Cherfilus-McCormick.
Every seat in the tightly divided House is valuable, with votes routinely coming down to just a couple of votes. If Cherfilus-McCormick's seat is vacated, it would give Republicans a little more room to maneuver bills through the chamber.
But Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, a moderate member from Washington state who often breaks with her caucus, posted on social media Friday morning that “since she was found guilty, she should resign or be removed.”
The last member to be expelled from Congress was Republican Rep. George Santos of New York in 2023. He argued at the time that the House would be “haunted” by the precedent of expelling a member before a criminal trial played out. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., voted against expulsion at the time, expressing the same concern.
It takes a two-thirds majority in the 435-member House to expel a member.
___
Kinnard reported from Columbia, S.C.
...