Florida congresswoman faces expulsion threat after indictment

By Nolan D. McCaskill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A resolution to expel Democratic U.S. Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick was filed in the House of Representatives on Thursday, pressuring her to resign after her indictment on federal charges of misusing COVID-19 relief funds.

While the resolution, filed by Republican Representative Greg Steube, would likely struggle to capture the two-thirds majority needed to pass in the closely divided House, her resignation could affect the Republicans’ narrow control of the chamber.

Cherfilus-McCormick was indicted on Wednesday on charges that she, her brother and others conspired to misappropriate a $5 million overpayment of COVID-19 relief funds and funneled some of the money to her campaign.

She denied the charges, calling them unjust and baseless.

Steube, who like Cherfilus-McCormick represents a district in Florida, wrote in a social media post on Thursday: “If she refuses to resign and save Congress the embarrassment of having to expel her, I will bring this resolution to the floor for a vote.”

The House Ethics Committee has been investigating allegations against Cherfilus-McCormick since 2023.

Christie Stephenson, a spokesperson for Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, said Cherfilus-McCormick would leave her post as the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee’s Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee as her legal case plays out.

“Consistent with the United States Constitution, she is entitled to her day in court and the presumption of innocence,” Stephenson said.

Expulsion, the most severe form of punishment in the House, requires a two-thirds vote, although Republicans hold a bare 219-214 majority.

Former Representative George Santos, a New York Republican, was the most recent member to be expelled from the House, after a vote on December 1, 2023.

The departures and replacements of individual representatives have taken on added importance given the narrow margin separating the two parties.

The swearing in of Arizona Representative Adelita Grijalva, which was delayed for several weeks, provided the final signature needed to compel this week’s vote on a bill requiring the release of unclassified files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The bill swiftly passed both houses of Congress and was signed into law on Wednesday.

(Reporting by Nolan D. McCaskill; Editing by Scott Malone and Edmund Klamann)