Ethics committee finds ‘clear and convincing evidence’ Florida representative violated House rules

WASHINGTON (CN) — The House Ethics Committee has determined Florida Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick violated House rules after examining accusations she funneled federal disaster relief funding into her congressional campaign, the panel’s chairman said Friday.

The decision, handed down in a press release from the bipartisan ethics committee, comes just hours after the panel convened an exceedingly rare public hearing to discuss the Florida Democrat’s conduct.

Little was divulged about how the ethics panel arrived at its conclusion. Committee chairman and Mississippi Representative Michael Guest said in a statement lawmakers deliberating on whether there was “clear and convincing evidence” to back up the fraud accusations against Cherfilus-McCormick determined that the counts had been “proven.” Discussion about the congresswoman’s conduct lasted “well past midnight,” Guest said.

The Ethics Committee chairman added the panel will hold a hearing after the House returns from its April recess to discuss possible sanctions against the Florida Democrat.

During an unusual ethics hearing Thursday evening, Cherfilus-McCormick’s attorney pleaded with lawmakers to pause their probe into his client. William Barzee told the Ethics Committee any conclusions it reached might interfere with the congresswoman’s simultaneous criminal trial in Florida, where she’s charged with money laundering and making illegal campaign contributions.

“This is not a criminal trial, and as such it’s going to have different standards of proof involved,” Barzee told the panel. “It’s not going to be decided by a jury of her peers — it will be decided by members of the committee and the full House.”

The attorney, who is also representing Cherfilus-McCormick in court, contended media coverage of the ethics proceedings would be “weaponized” against her and potential jurors would be led to believe the House had found the congresswoman guilty of crimes, though lawmakers can only determine whether she violated chamber rules.

Members of the Ethics Committee, though, were unconvinced. Lawmakers pointed out that other trials have been subject to intense media scrutiny and that judges are responsible for ensuring jurors disregard news reports in their deliberations.

The panel ultimately rejected a request to stay its proceedings and carried out the evidentiary hearing.

Cherfilus-McCormick has been under investigation by the House since 2023, beginning with accusations she failed to report payments she made to a political action committee connected to her congressional campaign. After the congresswoman was criminally indicted in November, the Ethics Committee added that potential misconduct to its probe.

The Florida Democrat has been accused of stealing roughly $5 million from the Federal Emergency Management agency and using some of the funding to finance her initial run for Congress in 2021. She has pleaded not guilty to the charges; if convicted, she faces up to 53 years in prison.

In the House, Cherfilus-McCormick could now face sanctions as severe as expulsion from the chamber. At least one lawmaker, Florida Representative Greg Steube, has said he would introduce an expulsion resolution against the congresswoman as soon as the Ethics Committee made its decision public.

The House last removed a member, New York Representative George Santos, in 2023 amid a similar ethics panel investigation. The committee did not recommend he be expelled but his colleagues opted to remove Santos anyway as he faced a federal indictment. President Donald Trump last year commuted Santos’ prison sentence.

Thursday’s Ethics Committee hearing was not only notable for its content, but also because it was a rare instance in which the panel conducted business in the public eye. The bipartisan congressional ethics board typically works in secrecy, only providing updates on its investigations for major milestones.

The last public hearing in the Ethics Committee was in 2010, when it examined tax violations committed by former New York Representative Charlie Rangel. The panel determined at the time that he had violated House rules. Rangel was censured but wasn’t removed from the chamber, and remained in Congress until 2017.

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