House Ethics Panel Holds Rare Public Trial of Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick

A House Ethics subcommittee on Thursday held a rare public hearing on 27 alleged violations by Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Florida Democrat accused of stealing millions in federal pandemic relief funds and sending some of it to her campaign. CBS News described an eight-member adjudicatory subcommittee, with Republican and Democratic members, hearing the case. NBC News reported that the proceeding was televised and ran nearly seven hours.

The Justice Department indicted Cherfilus-McCormick in November on charges that she stole and laundered $5 million in federal emergency funding, according to NBC News. CBS reported the money was federal pandemic relief and that she has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors say overpayments went to Trinity Healthcare Services, a company her mother and stepfather co-founded, CBS reported, that received the overpayments, and that part of the money reached her campaign, according to prosecutors and the ethics counsel. NBC said she could face more than 50 years in prison if convicted in that separate case.

The House ethics case rests on a 59-page statement of alleged violations adopted in December, CBS reported, which describes a campaign-finance scheme. NBC News said the statement alleged violations through 27 counts and that investigators reviewed more than 33,000 documents and conducted 28 witness interviews. Ethics counsel Sydney Bellwoar told the panel that Cherfilus-McCormick and her siblings funneled more than $500,000 from Trinity into outside groups that spent on her campaign, NBC reported.

Cherfilus-McCormick denies wrongdoing. NBC News reported that her statement said she looks forward to proving her innocence and will keep focusing on her constituents, and CBS reported she has called the indictment a “sham.” Her attorney, William Barzee, who NBC said was retained three weeks earlier, argued the public process was rushed and that the panel should not issue a verdict that could affect her criminal trial. NBC reported he said her limited cooperation followed earlier legal advice. CBS reported that she initially cooperated with investigators and later invoked her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

The committee chose a public trial because she fought the allegations rather than resign, and because the ethics process was moving faster than the criminal case, according to NBC News. The hearing precedes any recommendation on discipline.

Rep. Greg Steube, a Florida Republican, has said he is ready to push for expulsion once the committee recommends a sanction, according to both outlets. CBS reported that expelling her would make her the seventh House member removed. The House expelled Rep. George Santos in 2023 after an Ethics report, CBS and NBC noted, by a 311-114 vote, according to NBC.

No verdict had been announced when the hearing ended Thursday, and the subcommittee was expected to deliberate.