Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick resigns before facing ethics panel meeting 03:25
Washington — Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida resigned from Congress on Tuesday, moments before the House Ethics Committee was set to determine whether she should be sanctioned for allegations of theft and other misconduct.
Cherfilus-McCormick has been charged with stealing nearly $5 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds for her campaign and has pleaded not guilty. She was likely to be expelled from the House in the coming days if she had not resigned.
“This was not a fair process,” Cherfilus-McCormick said in a statement. “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.”
Her resignation was read on the House floor shortly after she issued her statement. Her decision to step down will trigger a special election process in Florida to fill her seat.
The House Ethics Committee chairman, Rep. Michael Guest of Mississippi, noted that the panel “has now lost jurisdiction in this matter” and there would no longer be a sanctions hearing.
The Ethics Committee released a report on the conclusions of its monthslong investigation into Cherfilus-McCormick’s alleged misconduct in January. Committee investigators said they found “substantial evidence of conduct consistent with the allegations in the indictment, as well as more extensive misconduct.”
The report laid out a pattern of inaccurate and incomplete campaign finance reports across several election cycles, including improper contributions falsely reported as personal loans, acceptance of improper contributions and inflated cash-on-hand numbers. Cherfilus-McCormick also allegedly spent the FEMA funds on luxury goods, including jewelry and designer clothing.
Last month, the panel’s adjudicatory subcommittee held a rare public “trial,” determining that all but two of the 27 allegations against Cherfilus-McCormick in the committee’s report “had been proven.”
During the March hearing, Cherfilus-McCormick’s lawyer, William Barzee, argued any action by the committee would jeopardize her right to a fair trial.
“How can she possibly go into court and have a fair trial if her jurors have already heard that she was found guilty by the House of Representatives? It’s an impossibility,” he said.
Barzee told reporters Tuesday that she was “left with no choice.”
“She could go along and allow them to just trample her constitutional rights and her due process rights,” he said. “Instead of allowing that to happen, she decided to step away.”
Cherfilus-McCormick’s federal trial was pushed back earlier this month to February 2027.
The lawmaker said in a statement last month that she was “limited” in what she could address because of the federal case.
“I welcome the opportunity to set the record straight and challenge these inaccuracies, when I am legally able to do so,” she said.
In another statement last week, the Florida Democrat said she had no intention of resigning. But her fate appeared all but certain heading into Tuesday’s hearing.
Republican Rep. Greg Steube of Florida has been holding off on forcing a vote to remove Cherfilus-McCormick from office until after the committee made its recommendation. Her removal would have required a two-thirds vote, meaning at least 70 Democrats would need to support it if all Republicans voted in favor.
Democratic leadership had delayed weighing in on whether they would support her expulsion, and said they would discuss it after the Ethics Committee made its recommendation. Several Democrats, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, said Cherfilus-McCormick did the right thing by resigning. Jeffries declined to say whether he encouraged her to resign, telling reporters that “private conversations will remain private.”
“She did the right thing for the people that she has previously represented, and as she moves forward, she’s entitled to the presumption of innocence and her day in court,” Jeffries said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, called it a “sad day for the institution anytime a member gets into trouble like that and resigns.”
“I think she was on the path to be expelled from the body,” Johnson said. “I think she assessed that and realized the votes were there. So that was the right result.”
Cherfilus-McCormick is the third member of Congress to step aside over allegations of misconduct in the past week. Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell and Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales both resigned on April 14 ahead of expected expulsion votes.
