Washington– Democratic Rep. Sheila Chervilus 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 a potential Republican campaign to expel her from Congress.
After meeting early Friday morning after a seven-hour hearing, the Ethics Committee, made up of four Democrats and four Republicans, found that Chervilus-McCormick committed 25 ethics violations, including breaking campaign finance laws. The committee said it would recommend a penalty in the coming weeks.
The allegations center around Chervilus McCormick receiving millions of dollars from her family’s health care business after Florida overpaid about $5 million in disaster relief funds. Chervilus accused McCormick 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 in Southeast Florida, denied any wrongdoing, and her lawyer strongly criticized her. Public hearing on Thursday – The first open procedure in nearly 15 years. But the ruling by the ethics committee could trigger a potential vote to expel her and divide the Democratic caucus, which is trying to return to power in November’s midterm elections.
Cherfilus-McCormick also faces federal charges for Allegedly stealing $5 million In COVID-19 disaster relief funds and used for purchases such as a 3-carat yellow diamond ring. Her brother, former chief of staff and accountant were also charged. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and her lawyer indicated Thursday that the trial is expected to begin in the coming months.
The congresswoman declined to testify during Thursday’s ethics hearing, citing her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Her lawyer, William Barzee, sparred with some lawmakers on the Ethics Committee and said they should have allowed a full ethics trial, where he could present witnesses and evidence to counter the House investigators’ conclusions.
Barzee accused the committee of giving more impetus to efforts to “expel from Congress a woman who was duly elected by her constituents” based primarily on bank records.
The committee’s investigators identified 27 violations of House ethics standards and rules in a 242-page report. The report accused Chervilus McCormick of winning the 2022 special election by portraying her campaign as self-funded when it was actually funded by a $5 million overpayment her family’s company received from Florida for coronavirus vaccination services.
Barzee said she was “entitled to that money,” pointing to a document detailing how her family would share the proceeds from the health care business. But lawmakers on the Ethics Commission were skeptical of that argument.
The panel found Chervilus McCormick guilty of all but two of the ethics violations suggested by investigators. Lawmakers declined to convict her of allegedly receiving political assistance from an organization run by a consultant and her husband that receives funding from the Haitian government. The committee also did not find her guilty of refusing to cooperate with the ethics investigation.
The full House Ethics Committee said it will meet after Congress returns from a two-week recess last April, and will consider what punishment should be recommended for a vote in the House.
Rep. Greg Steube, a Florida Republican, told reporters Thursday that once the committee makes a decision, he “will move on the floor to expel.”
House Democratic leaders declined to convict Chervilus McCormick and said they wanted to see the ethics process completed. Two members of the Congressional Black Caucus, one of the most powerful groups of Democratic members, also showed up at the start of Thursday’s ethics hearing in an apparent show of support for Chervilus McCormick.
But Democratic Rep. Mary Glusenkamp Perez, a moderate from Washington state who often breaks with her caucus, posted on social media Friday morning that “since she is guilty, she should resign or be impeached.”
The last member of Congress to be expelled from Congress was a Republican Representative Jorge Santos from New York in 2023. He said at the time that the House would be “haunted” by the precedent of expelling a member before holding a criminal trial. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Los Angeles, voted against expulsion at the time, expressing the same concern.
Expelling a member requires a two-thirds majority in the 435-member House of Representatives.
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Kennard reported from Columbia, SC