Attention Shifts to Two House Members Accused of Gross Misconduct as New Targets of Expulsion Threats

Members of the House are now training their eyes on two lawmakers from Florida accused of misconduct as the newest targets of expulsion threats. The heat is being put on these lawmakers after two others — Congressmen Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzales — announced their resignations following their colleagues’ declarations that they would move to expel them. The two lawmakers in question, Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and Congressman Cory Mills, have both faced the House Ethics Committee and are now under pressure to resign from the House. Ms. Cherfilus-McCormick has been indicted for allegedly stealing millions of dollars from a Covid-era FEMA program in Florida, while Mr. Mills is accused of a number of ethics violations, including doing federal contract work while a member of the Hotae, as well as harassing a former girlfriend. With Mr. Swalwell, a Democrat, and Mr. Gonzales, a Republican, set to resign, the partisan margins in the House will remain unchanged. In the same kind of grand bargain scenario cooked up by House members used to pressure Messrs. Swalwell and Gonzales, Democrats and Republicans would have to agree to expel both Ms. Cherfilus-McCormick and Mr Mills for it to be successful. Speaking to reporters as he arrived at the Capitol on Tuesday, Speaker Mike Johnson said he supports expelling Ms. Cherfilus-McCormick but remained mum on whether or not Mr. Mills should go. He says his position is informed by the fact that Ms. Cherfilus-McCormick has already been found to have violated House rules by the Ethics Committee. Mr. Mills is under investigation by the panel but a report has yet to be issued by the panel. “I’m a jealous guardian of due process around here,” Mr. Johnson said, arguing that the ethics reporter on Ms. Cherfilus-McCormick “certainly rises to the level” of expulsion. “With regard to Mills, I’m not sure of the status of these committee investigations and that’s one of the things I’ll be looking into today.”On Tuesday, Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna — the GOP architect of the dual Swalwell-Gonzales expulsion strategy — said she is prepared to move to expel Ms. Cherfilus-McCormick next week if she does not step down. “Either resign or be expelled. Those are your two options,” Ms. Luna wrote on X Tuesday. “So America is tracking: Sheila stole $5 million in FEMA funds.”No Democrat has said they will introduce an expulsion resolution for Mr. Mills, though several have called for him to resign or be expelled. Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, a retiring progressive stalwart from New York, said on Monday that all four of her colleagues — Messrs. Swalwell, Gonzales, Mills, and Ms. Cherfilus-McCormick — should all resign or be expelled, saying no one should “tolerate” any person who violates their oath of office. Some Democrats, however, may be willing to side with Mr. Mills, given he has not been found guilty of a crime nor has he been found to have violated House rules or the ethical standard for lawmakers in Congress. When New York Republicans tried to oust Congressman George Santos in 2023, more than 30 Democrats voted against expulsion, which requires two-thirds of the House — or 290 votes — in order to succeed. “Santos has not been criminally convicted yet of any of the offenses he has been indicted for that were cited in the Resolution nor has he been found guilty of ethics offenses in the House internal process,” Congressman Jamie Raskin, now the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said in a statement at the time after voting against removing Santos. “This would be a terrible precedent to set, expelling people who have not been convicted of a crime and without internal due process,” Mr. Raskin argued, before later to expel Santos once the Ethics Committee released its report.

Attention Shifts to Two House Members Accused of Gross Misconduct as New Targets of Expulsion Threats

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