The House Ethics Committee wrapped up a rare public trial to assess allegations that a Florida Democrat stole millions of dollars in FEMA funds to boost her congressional campaign, finding that she was guilty on more than two dozen accusations levied against her.
Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick was compelled to sit before the panel on Thursday afternoon to face questions about the alleged conduct just months after she was indicted on federal charges. After hours of deliberation, the committee voted that 25 of the 27 counts “had been proven.”
The committee said it would hold a hearing next month to determine “what, if any, sanction would be appropriate.” The Florida Democrat could face expulsion from the House, the most serious consequence a lawmaker can face — and a fate only a handful of Congress members have endured before.
“Expulsion, obviously, is effectively the political death penalty,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said on Thursday. “It’s a decision of the body to determine that. So you look at all the factors and you figure that out. We’ll be doing that here in this case. If it seems that this member of Congress has egregiously violated the law and exploited taxpayers and all the rest, it would be a harsh penalty necessary for that.”
Cherfilus-McCormick has been under review by the Ethics Committee for a number of allegations, such as violating campaign finance laws; failing to properly disclose required information; accepting official work from an unemployed individual; engaging in improper conduct in relation to project funding requests; and misusing official funds for campaign purposes.
The two-term congresswoman was also federally indicted late last year over allegations she illegally stole $5 million in FEMA overpayments from her company and transferred it to her congressional campaign account. If convicted, she could spend up to 53 years in prison, according to the Justice Department.
The indictment alleges that Cherfilus-McCormick’s family health care company received the overpayment in 2021 through a FEMA-funded COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract. She and her brother then took that money and routed it through multiple accounts to “disguise its source” before depositing it to her campaign, the indictment states.
One way that was achieved, the indictment alleges, is that the funds were given to friends and relatives, who then donated the money to her campaign “as if using their own money.”
Cherfilus-McCormick has denied any wrongdoing.
The Ethics Committee is the only panel on Capitol Hill split evenly between parties to ensure nonpartisan judgments and decisions. The committee voted to have Cherfilus-McCormick appear before the committee despite her request to postpone the hearing until her criminal trial concluded.
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., has already filed a resolution to expel Cherfilus-McCormick from Congress, but has said he won’t force a vote on the measure until the committee releases its full report and recommendations. The timeline on that is not clear.
If expelled, the Florida Democrat would be only the seventh member of Congress to be removed from her position. The most recent lawmaker who was expelled was former Rep. George Santos, who was voted out in 2023 on charges of fraud and misuse of campaign funds.