Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida resigned on Tuesday just before the House Ethics Committee held a hearing to determine if she’d be expelled from Congress.
In March, the panel found the now former congresswoman guilty of 25 ethics violations related to allegations that she used FEMA funds from a government contract on her political campaign. She had contended that the panel weighing her expulsion before her February 2027 criminal trial was problematic.
Maintaining a matter-of-fact tone, Cherfilus-McCormick took to social media to resign and explain why.
“I will not stand by and pretend that this has been anything other than a witch hunt. I simply cannot stand by and allow my due process rights to be trampled on, and my good name to be tarnished,” she said of the Ethics process in a statement posted on X.
“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.”
It should be noted that the former congresswoman has pleaded not guilty.
This resignation is the third in the past week. Reps. Eric Swalwell of California and Tony Gonzales of Texas resigned due to sexual misconduct allegations. They were each facing their own expulsion vote hours before they decided to leave their posts.
A two-thirds vote is required to expel a member from Congress. Cherfilus-McCormick would have needed 70 Democrats to remove her.
Chairman of the House Ethics Committee, Michael Guest of Mississippi, said that the congresswoman’s resignation took jurisdiction away from the panel, but defended the over two years of work that the panel had done on the case.
“I will tell you that the committee has worked diligently to investigate this matter, that this was not a rush to judgment, as some would claim,” Guest said, “that this was a very deliberate process to gather information into allegations that were extremely serious and extremely complicated.”
The Department of Justice indicted the former Florida lawmaker in November on charges that she stole and laundered FEMA money to the tune of millions of dollars. Trinity Healthcare Services, her family’s company, worked with FEMA during the pandemic and received a contract for COVID-19 vaccines. They were alleged overpaid $5 million.
According to the DOJ, she and her brother never paid the money back, and instead, sent it through several accounts and then used the money to fund her 2022 special election campaign. A 3.14 carat yellow diamond ring with a price tag of $109,000 was also allegedly purchased with FEMA funds.
