I wrote about this story yesterday. The House Ethics Committee held a trial of sorts yesterday afternoon to decide whether or not Florida Democratic congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick was guilty of violating House ethics rules.
Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick was present with her attorney who argued that the decision by the committee should be postponed so as not to bias a potential jury in a forthcoming criminal trial over the same issues. Cherfilus-McCormick is accused of, essentially, laundering funds mistakenly paid by the state of Florida into a health agency her family owns and using that money to fund her own campaign for office.
After about an hour of deliberation the committee voted that she was guilty of violating House Ethics rules. She now faces a possible expulsion from congress.
The congresswoman was found guilty on multiple counts of failing to both comply with Federal Election Commission regulations and uphold the Code of Ethics for Government Service, particularly in disclosing campaign contributions, the committee said.
The statement comes a day after Cherfilus-McCormick appeared before the House Ethics Committee in a rare public hearing to face allegations she stole millions in federal disaster funds and used it to bolster her 2021 campaign.
In a document outlining her alleged violations, the Ethics Committee detailed several instances between 2021 and 2022 in which it believes her campaign improperly reported more than a dozen payments as loans. The committee claimed this was done “to create the appearance of a financially strong campaign.”
The panel added that shortly after the House returns from the April recess, it will hold a full hearing to determine whether to recommend sanctions against the congresswoman.
The way this will go is that the full committee will meet next month and make a recommendation to the full House. That recommendation could range from censure to expulsion. The recommendation isn't binding though, so this really comes down to whether or not Democrats in the House want this problem to go away or want to spend the next several months defending Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick. Right now it looks like they are ready to toss her under the bus.
A growing number of House Democrats are calling on Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.) to resign after the House Ethics Committee found her guilty of dozens of charges, including serious financial misconduct...
More than half a dozen House Democrats said they think Cherfilus-McCormick should resign after the panel said Friday morning they found 25 of the 27 charges against her were "proven by clear and convincing evidence."
Few had said so publicly before Thursday's hearing, in which Cherfilus-McCormick's lawyer struggled to withstand bitter questioning from members of the panel.
So far, there are half a dozen Democrats saying she should resign and several more expressing concern about the allegations. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has previously defended Cherfilus-McCormick but now seems to have gone quiet. Here's Jeffries last month:
Hakeem Jeffries doubles down and says he will not vote to expel Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick who was indicted for defrauding FEMA of $5 million.
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 2, 2026
JEFFRIES: "I'm a hard no." pic.twitter.com/KPs3zbu7RQ
So it looks like Jeffries got this one wrong and the effort to expel her is not going to fail. As I mentioned yesterday, Democrats are sort of in a bind here because they voted to expel Republican fabulist George Santos. In fact, Santos responded to the post above on X:
Where was my presumption of innocence @RepJeffries ???
— George Santos (@Georgesantos) February 3, 2026
Santos was a loon and a crook but the evidence presented against Cherfilus-McCormick yesterday suggests she's not so different.
Cherfilus-McCormick, who first won election to Congress in 2021, is accused of stealing more than $5 million in disaster relief funds that were improperly paid to her family’s healthcare company, among other criminal allegations. She and her siblings allegedly used the illicit funds to jumpstart her congressional campaign and for personal use, including the purchase of a large diamond ring that Cherfilus-McCormick appeared to have worn in her official congressional portrait.
Cherfilus-McCormick has pleaded not guilty to the stunning federal charges brought in 2025. If convicted in federal court, Cherfilus-McCormick, 47, faces up to 53 years in prison.
The House ethics panel’s investigation into Cherfilus-McCormick preceded the 2025 federal criminal indictment by more than two years. During that time, Cherfilus-McCormick shifted between four different attorneys while largely refusing to cooperate with the bipartisan panel.
On Thursday, Cherfilus-McCormick sought to use the fact of her new legal representation to further delay the committee’s proceedings until June — a request the eight-member panel promptly denied in a closed-door session. Her new attorney, William Barzee, repeatedly claimed a violation of Cherfilus-McCormick’s due process rights while maintaining her innocence.
Her efforts to stall justice failed yesterday. She should be removed from the House as soon as possible.
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