Indicted Democrat Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick to resign from Congress amid expulsion threat
· Fox News
Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., announced Tuesday she is resigning from the House of Representatives after Republicans vowed to force a vote to expel her from the chamber.
"Rather than play these political games, I choose to step away so I can devote my time to fighting for my neighbors in Florida's 20th District," she wrote on social media Tuesday afternoon. "I hereby resign from the 119th Congress, effective immediately."
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"This fight is far from over," Cherfilus-McCormick, who was indicted by a grand jury last year for allegedly stealing COVID-19 emergency funds, added in her statement.
She is facing 53 years in prison as part of a separate criminal indictment.
INDICTED DEMOCRAT SHEILA CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK REFUSES TO RESIGN AS EXPULSION VOTE LOOMS
Cherfilus-McCormick’s abrupt announcement came after Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., pledged to file a motion to expel her, teeing up a vote later this week. It takes two-thirds of the House to remove a lawmaker, but a growing number of Democrats have voiced support for the expulsion effort.
It also came just minutes prior to a House Ethics Committee hearing that was slated to recommend sanctions against her for committing a bevy of violations involving financial misconduct.
House Ethics Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., announced the panel lost jurisdiction with Cherfilus-Mccormick's eleventh-hour decision to quit Congress.
The committee panel found "clear and convincing evidence" in March that the Florida Democrat misused federal disaster relief money that was improperly paid to her family’s healthcare company, among other misconduct.
Cherfilus-McCormick has denied any wrongdoing and repeatedly rebuffed speculation she would resign if confronted with an expulsion vote.
She slammed the ethics panel’s investigation as a "witch hunt" on social media and claimed a violation of her due process rights, despite the committee granting a request to delay proceedings when she temporarily lost legal representation earlier this year.
Guest vigorously pushed back on that assertion Tuesday, noting that she had repeatedly declined the committee’s request to provide exculpatory evidence.
"The committee has worked diligently to investigate this matter," he said. "This was not a rush to judgment, as some would claim … this was a very deliberate process to gather information into allegations that were extremely serious, and extremely complicated."
Guest also thanked committee staff Tuesday who had worked for more than two years and reviewed tens of thousands of documents to probe Cherfilus-McCormick’s alleged misconduct.
She is the third lawmaker to resign from Congress in the past week. Reps. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, stepped down last week to avoid their own expulsion threats related to sexual misconduct allegations.
At least five women have come forward with allegations against Swalwell of sexual assault and rape. Gonzales admitted to sexual misconduct in March with a former aide who later died by suicide.
The embattled lawmaker is facing a separate 15-count federal criminal indictment that carries a maximum sentence of 53 years in prison, if convicted. The federal trial is not scheduled to begin until early 2027.
She filed to run for re-election, despite raising just $11,000 in the year's first fundraising quarter, according to recent Federal Election Commission filings. It is unclear whether she plans to suspend her campaign.
Cherfilus-Mccormick was not present as her resignation announcement was read on the House floor.
A Cherfilus-McCormick aide told reporters that she was with her family in Washington, D.C. as the news broke.
"She's with her family digesting this development and digesting this decision," the staffer said. "As you can imagine, this wasn't what she wanted."
House Democratic leadership did not publicly weigh in before Cherfilus-McCormick’s resignation announcement, despite the extensive misconduct determined by the House ethics panel.
But the congresswoman appeared to cave to the pressure after a wave of Democrats said they would vote to expel her if a rare removal vote hit the floor.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi notably urged the quick expulsion of the Cherfilus-McCormick during an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, stating, "Let’s just get this over with."
Pelosi also advocated for the swift removal of embattled Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., who is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for an alleged domestic violence incident, among other misconduct.
"These cases just being out there … they make us look terrible," Pelosi said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has argued that the Ethics Committee’s investigation into Mills should run its course before lawmakers consider punitive measures.
"I'm confident that they are moving along as quickly as they are able," Johnson told Fox News. "And when members cooperate, which my understanding is Representative Mills is cooperating, unlike Cherfilus-McCormick, I would expect that the outcome would be much sooner."
"He's very upset about some of the allegations that have been made," Johnson said of Mills. "He says that he wants to prove his innocence, and he has the opportunity to do that."
Fox News' Chad Pergram and Kelly Phares contributed to this report.