WASHINGTON – The House Ethics Committee held 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 third-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.
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Over two years of work, committee investigators say they collected “a mountain of evidence” that Cherfilus-McCormick committed the deeds alleged in the federal indictment. She denies any wrongdoing, and her attorney criticized the House hearing as unfair.
The hearing could carry significant political repercussions because some Republican lawmakers are threatening a vote to expel Cherfilus-McCormick from the House. Both parties are vying for the ethical high ground before the November elections.
Cherfilus-McCormick, who represents a heavily Democratic district in southeastern Florida, has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges and last year called it “an unjust, baseless, sham indictment.” She argued to have the committee postpone its hearing until after the conclusion of the criminal trial or to hold the proceedings in private, but the subcommittee examining the allegations denied those requests.
A rare public ethics hearing
Thursday's hearing gave 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 27 ethics violations. The full committee could then later recommend a punishment.
Sydney Bellwoar, senior counsel for the House Ethics Committee, told the panel that investigators found “a mountain of evidence” that showed Cherfilus-McCormick violated laws, ethical standards and rules for House members.
Cherfilus-McCormick's lawyer, William R. Barzee, appealed, asking the subcommittee to reconsider its earlier decision to proceed with the public hearing. Barzee told the committee that if she wants to preserve her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in the upcoming federal trial, “she must remain silent before the committee.”
Cherfilus-McCormick did not address the panel throughout the proceedings, but took notes and occasionally whispered to her attorney.
Barzee also argued to the panel on Thursday that the House hearing could influence potential jurors in the criminal trial and that the concurrent proceedings have prevented her from cooperating with the ethics committee's investigation.
“She is not guilty of these allegations. She is absolutely innocent,” Barzee said, adding, “But she is in between a rock and a hard place right now.”
After meeting for roughly an hour in private, the panel denied Cherfilus-McCormick’s request to postpone the proceedings.
Still, Barzee called it a “travesty of justice” for the committee to proceed with the hearing without allowing him to cross-examine witnesses and submit competing evidence to refute the allegations against Cherfilus-McCormick.
“At least give her a fair shake and let me cross-examine some witnesses. Let me put some witnesses on the stand to defend her and to tell you what happened,” he said.
What ethics charges does Cherfilus-McCormick face?
Committee investigators have laid out their findings in a 242-page report that concludes Cherfilus-McCormick committed 27 counts of ethics violations.
The report alleges that Cherfilus-McCormick first won a special election in 2022 with a campaign that presented itself as self-financed. But in reality, the campaign was substantially funded through a $5 million overpayment for COVID-19 vaccination services that her family's company had received from the state of Florida, according to investigators.
Barzee said that, regardless of the overpayment, Cherfilus-McCormick was entitled to profits from the business. “There was nothing nefarious or improper about that,” he said.
He added that the congresswoman was not necessarily responsible for repaying the money, but that her family’s company was.
But investigators laid out an argument that funds were channeled into Cherfilus-McCormick's campaign through a number of business entities that were connected to the congresswoman and her siblings. Bank records also showed a pattern of transferring funds into her campaign accounts shortly before filing deadlines, only to transfer the money out after the deadline. This misled voters about the strength of her campaign, investigators argued.
The investigation also found evidence that the congresswoman then 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.
Investigators allege that she continued to commit ethics violations in office, including using her position to benefit allies with special favors during the appropriations process and disregarding restrictions on volunteer work by her senior campaign adviser.
House ethics officials said the committee, which has been considering the matter since 2023, met a dozen times as part of the investigation, reviewed more than 33,000 documents and issued dozens of subpoenas.
What federal charges does Cherfilus-McCormick face?
In February, the Florida Democrat pleaded not guilty to more than a dozen federal counts, including theft of government funds, making and receiving straw donor contributions and money laundering, as well as conspiracy charges associated with each of those 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 through a federally funded COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract. Within two months of receiving the money, prosecutors allege, more than $100,000 had been spent to buy the congresswoman a 3-carat yellow diamond ring. Her brother, the former chief of staff and accountant, was also charged in the alleged scheme.
She has said she doesn't plan to resign and is running for reelection.
Could Cherfilus-McCormick be expelled from the House?
Republicans are moving to do just that, although it would require a significant number of Democrats to join them. It takes a two-thirds vote to expel a member from the House.
Democratic leaders have so far declined to condemn Cherfilus-McCormick. California Rep. Pete Aguilar, the third-ranked Democrat in House leadership, said this week that he would not “prejudge” the allegations against her.
“Let’s see what happens in the Ethics Committee,” he said at a news conference Tuesday.
But Thursday's hearing was a rare occurrence that underscored the gravity of the allegations. 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., on charges related to his personal finances. The panel also held a hearing that year on allegations against Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., but found insufficient evidence to prove them.
The last member of Congress to be expelled was Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., in 2023. Santos had not yet been convicted of federal charges, and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., voted against it at the time, expressing concern about setting a precedent of expelling members based on untried allegations.
But a scathing House Ethics Committee report preceded the expulsion vote for Santos. ___
Kinnard reported from Columbia, S.C., and can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP