Just minutes before a House Ethics Committee hearing on Tuesday, Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., announced she will resign from Congress following the panel’s two-year investigation into allegations she misused federal emergency relief funds.
In her resignation statement, Cherfilus-McCormick said the committee’s investigation was “not a fair process,” accusing the panel of preventing her from defending herself.
“I will not stand by and pretend that this was anything other than a witch hunt,” she wrote, adding, “Rather than play these political games, I choose to step away so that I can devote my time to fighting for my neighbors in Florida’s 20th district. I hereby resign from the 119th Congress, effective immediately.”
She read her resignation on the House floor minutes after posting it on social media, making the political breakdown of the lower chamber 217 Republicans, 213 Democrats and one independent.
The Florida Democrat, who was serving her third term in the House, is under indictment on criminal charges of stealing up to $5 million in federal disaster funds, laundering the proceeds, and using the money to support her 2021 congressional campaign. Cherfilus-McCormick pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges and is slated to face a federal criminal trial in Miami early next year.
The House Ethics Committee last month held a rare public hearing on the allegations and found she violated more than 20 ethics rules.
“The [Investigative subcommittee] conducted a thorough investigation over the course of two years, including
sending 30 requests for information, issuing 59 subpoenas, conducting 28 witness interviews, and reviewing over 33,000 pages of documents,” the committee said of its ethics investigation in a memorandum, which was shared ahead of the scheduled sanctions hearing on Tuesday.
Instead of the hearing to rule on her punishment, Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., read Cherfilus-McCormick’s resignation letter to the committee and promptly ended the meeting, noting the panel had lost jurisdiction.
Several political and faith-based organizations in Florida submitted letters of support for Cherfilus-McCormick ahead of the sanctions vote, but many lawmakers expected the committee to recommend expulsion as a result of the panel’s findings.
The supporting letters focused not on defending Cherfilus-McCormick’s character, but on making the argument that expelling her would leave hundreds of thousands of Floridians without representation. House members who resign in the middle of their term are replaced via a special election in their state, meaning the seat remains vacant until a new representative is elected by the voters of that district.
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The Justice Department alleged the Florida lawmaker and her brother, Edwin Cherfilus, used a $5 million overpayment from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for their family health care company’s Covid-19 vaccination staffing contract to fund her 2021 congressional campaign and for their personal benefit.
Cherfilus-McCormick and her associates allegedly “conspired to steal that $5 million and routed it through multiple accounts to disguise its source,” the DOJ said.
After the findings of the House ethics probe, some Republicans and several of Cherfilus-McCormick’s fellow Democrats began calling for her resignation. The allegations against her “not only concern an individual member’s conduct, they also implicate the public’s confidence in the House’s integrity as an institution,” the committee’s ranking member, Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Calif., said during last month’s hearing.
“You can’t crime your way into legitimate power,” Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., wrote in a statement on X. “Since she was found guilty, she should resign or be removed.”
Cherfilus-McCormick was one of several members of this Congress to face potential expulsion amid misconduct allegations. Former Democratic California Rep. Eric Swalwell resigned from the House and suspended his gubernatorial campaign after several women accused him of sexual assault and misconduct. Swalwell has denied those allegations, but he conceded to making “mistakes in judgment.” Former Republican Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales announced he would resign after admitting to an affair with a former aide who later killed herself.
Cherfilus-McCormick was first elected in 2022 in a special election and was seeking a fourth term prior to her resignation.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Sydney Carruth is a breaking news reporter covering national politics and policy for MS NOW. You can send her tips from a non-work device on Signal at SydneyCarruth.46 or follow her work on X and Bluesky.