The House Ethics Committee is holding a rare public hearing Thursday into alleged ethics violations committed by Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida, pushing into the open a yearslong investigation into how she funded her political rise.
The two-term congresswoman is facing numerous ethics charges, including failing to follow campaign finance laws, commingling campaign, personal and business funds and using her position to benefit allies. She is also facing federal charges for allegedly stealing $5 million in COVID-19 disaster relief funds. Over two years of work, committee investigators say they found substantial evidence that Cherfilus-McCormick committed the deeds alleged in the federal indictment. She denies any wrongdoing.
What the Left Is Saying
Democratic leaders have so far declined to condemn Cherfilus-McCormick. California Rep. Pete Aguilar, the third-ranked Democrat in House leadership, said he would not prejudge the allegations against her. Let's see what happens in the Ethics Committee, he said at a news conference Tuesday.
Cherfilus-McCormick's lawyer, William R. Barzee, has argued that she should preserve her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in the upcoming federal trial and therefore must remain silent before the committee. She has also requested that the hearing be postponed until after the criminal trial concludes or held in private, though those requests were denied by the subcommittee examining the allegations.
The congresswoman has called the federal indictment an unjust, baseless, sham indictment. She has said she had no plans to resign and has pleaded not guilty to more than a dozen federal counts including theft of government funds, making and receiving straw donor contributions and money laundering.
What the Right Is Saying
Some Republican lawmakers are threatening a vote to expel Cherfilus-McCormick from the House, with both parties vying for the ethical high ground before the November elections. The last member of Congress to be expelled was Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., in 2023.
The hearing could carry significant political repercussions. While a two-thirds vote would be required to expel a member from the House, Republicans are moving forward with efforts that would require significant Democratic support.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., voted against the Santos expulsion in 2023, expressing concern about setting a precedent of expelling members based on untried allegations. However, a scathing House Ethics Committee report preceded the expulsion vote for Santos.
What the Numbers Show
The committee's investigation has been extensive: 12 meetings, more than 33,000 documents reviewed and dozens of subpoenas issued. The investigation began in 2023.
Committee investigators have laid out their findings in a 242-page report that concludes Cherfilus-McCormick committed 27 counts of ethics violations.
The investigation alleges that Cherfilus-McCormick first won a special election in 2022 with a campaign that presented itself as self-financed. However, the campaign was substantially funded through a $5 million overpayment for COVID-19 vaccination services that her family's company received from the federal government, according to investigators.
The investigation also found evidence that the congresswoman funded her reelection campaign largely through outside groups run by her friends and family, including a company that was mostly funded by the Haitian government.
In February, Cherfilus-McCormick pleaded not guilty to more than a dozen federal counts. Prosecutors accuse her of conspiring to steal $5 million in federal disaster funds mistakenly overpaid to the health care company owned by her family. Within two months of receiving the money, more than $100,000 was spent to buy the congresswoman a 3-carat yellow diamond ring.
It has been more than 15 years since a sitting member of the House faced a public hearing, dating to the 2010 ethics trial of Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y.
The Bottom Line
Thursday's hearing, scheduled to last two hours, will give House investigators an opportunity to lay out their findings and make a motion for the panel of lawmakers to adopt their conclusion that Cherfilus-McCormick committed numerous ethics violations. The full committee could then later recommend a punishment.
Cherfilus-McCormick has stepped down from her position as ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, in keeping with House Democratic Caucus rules that require indicted members to relinquish committee leadership positions.
The rare public nature of this hearing signals the seriousness with which the Ethics Committee is treating these allegations. What happens next will likely depend on the outcome of the hearing and whether Republicans can secure the two-thirds vote needed for expulsion, a threshold that has only been met once in recent history with George Santos.