Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters Tuesday that he expects the full House to vote to expel Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, the Broward-Palm Beach County Democrat facing federal criminal charges and a damning ethics record that found 25 of 27 allegations against her proven by clear and convincing evidence.
Johnson made the remarks during a media scrum at the Capitol, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported, framing the case as one where the evidence leaves little room for debate.
His comments came one day after the resignations of Reps. Eric Swalwell, a California Democrat, and Tony Gonzales, a Texas Republican, both accused of sexual misconduct, both of whom denied the allegations. But Johnson drew a sharp line between those cases and Cherfilus-McCormick's, pointing to the Ethics Committee's completed process and the weight of its findings.
"I do think certainly on Cherfilus-McCormick, the Ethics Committee has gone through all of its processes, and they've, they've found some alarming facts. I think the facts are indisputable at this point and so I believe it'll be the consensus of this body that she should be expelled. I mean that certainly rises to the level that's needed."
Expulsion from the House requires a two-thirds vote, a high bar, but one Johnson appears confident the chamber can clear.
The adjudicatory subcommittee of the House Ethics Committee issued its findings on March 27. Of the 27 allegations referred by the investigatory subcommittee, the panel determined that 25 had been proven by clear and convincing evidence. The violations include breaking campaign finance laws, as Fox News reported, describing the investigation as bipartisan and yearslong.
The full House Ethics Committee is scheduled to consider a sanctions recommendation to the full House at a hearing on April 21. That hearing will determine the formal punishment the committee sends to the floor, and multiple Republican members are already making clear they want that punishment to be expulsion.
The ethics panel's findings on 25 of 27 counts laid the groundwork for what now looks like an accelerating push to remove Cherfilus-McCormick from Congress entirely.
Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Tampa Bay Republican, wrote on social media Tuesday that the congresswoman's options had narrowed to two. "Sheila McCormick, we have your expulsion vote ready to be called up on the 21st. Either resign or be expelled. Those are your two options," Luna wrote. She added: "So America is tracking: Sheila stole $5 million in FEMA funds." Luna's claim about the FEMA funds reflects allegations described in the broader case but has not been adjudicated in a court of law.
Rep. Greg Steube, a Republican from Florida's Gulf Coast, filed an expulsion resolution last year. Fox News reported that Steube plans to introduce a fresh resolution after the ethics panel announces its recommended punishment.
The ethics case and the overlapping federal criminal charges center on a set of allegations that paint a picture of public office used for private enrichment. Cherfilus-McCormick is accused of receiving millions of dollars from her family's health care business and funneling money through a network of businesses and family members to finance her 2021 special primary campaign and her 2022 special congressional campaign.
Separately, the case involves allegations that Florida overpaid roughly $5 million in disaster relief funds, money that, Just The News reported, Cherfilus-McCormick is accused of embezzling. She also faces a federal indictment, some charges of which overlap with the House ethics case. She has entered a not guilty plea.
Cherfilus-McCormick has consistently denied wrongdoing. In a statement, she pushed back hard against the expulsion calls and drew a distinction between her case and the sexual misconduct allegations facing other members.
"I want to be very clear: those calling for my resignation or expulsion do not know, nor do they care about my district or the fight we are in right now. Second, the allegations I am addressing are not the same as those facing some of my colleagues. Lumping them together, particularly with cases involving sexual assault and rape, is inaccurate and irresponsible. Third, we must uphold due process. No one should be judged or punished before a formal finding. Expelling members without that standard sets a dangerous precedent."
She also made clear she has no intention of stepping aside. "And finally, for those asking whether I plan to resign: the answer is no. This is not the time to abandon the district, especially when they too are fighting for their future," she said.
The Washington Examiner noted that Cherfilus-McCormick said last month, "I look forward to proving my innocence." That confidence has not wavered publicly, even as the ethics findings have mounted.
One of the more telling details in this saga is what Democratic leaders have not said. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries was captured on separate video in Washington ignoring a CNN reporter's question about what should happen with Cherfilus-McCormick.
That silence speaks volumes. When a bipartisan ethics subcommittee finds 25 of 27 charges proven by clear and convincing evidence, and a federal indictment sits on top of it, a party leader who refuses to answer a direct question is making a choice. It may be a politically calculated one, but it is not a principled one.
The Republican campaign apparatus, meanwhile, has been working to make Cherfilus-McCormick a political liability for other Democrats. The broader political dynamic is straightforward: Democrats who stand by a colleague facing this volume of findings risk owning the association, while Republicans see an opportunity to force a vote that puts every member on the record.
Johnson's willingness to confront members of both parties on ethics matters stands in contrast to leaders who dodge questions. His recent actions, from backing judicial impeachments to pushing this expulsion, suggest a Speaker willing to use the tools available to enforce accountability, even when it creates friction.
Johnson was notably less definitive when asked about Rep. Cory Mills, a New Smyrna Beach Republican whose district sits northeast of Orlando. The Ethics Committee said it received two referrals from the Office of Congressional Conduct concerning allegations about Mills, and in November the committee formed an investigative subcommittee.
Mills has denied wrongdoing. Johnson acknowledged he was uncertain about the status of that probe. "With regard to Mills I'm not sure of the status of the Ethics Committee investigation," he said, adding he would be "looking into" it.
The contrast matters. Johnson's forceful stance on Cherfilus-McCormick, paired with his noncommittal response on Mills, will invite scrutiny about whether the standard is applied evenly. But the two cases are at different stages: the Cherfilus-McCormick ethics process has reached its adjudicatory conclusion, while the Mills investigation remains in its early phase. The facts will have to catch up before any equivalence holds.
The broader context of internal Republican tensions over leadership decisions makes Johnson's public confidence on the Cherfilus-McCormick vote all the more notable. He is betting he can hold his conference together on this one.
Cherfilus-McCormick won her seat in a 2021 special primary election by just five votes. She won the January 2022 special general election to fill the vacancy left by the death of Rep. Alcee Hastings, then won a full term later that year. In 2024, she won a second term without facing a single challenger, no Democrat, no Republican.
That streak of uncontested elections is over. Four Democrats are challenging her in this year's primary. The voters of Broward-Palm Beach County will finally have a say, assuming the House does not act first.
The April 21 hearing looms. If the full Ethics Committee recommends expulsion and the House reaches the two-thirds threshold, Cherfilus-McCormick would become one of the rarest figures in American political history: a sitting member removed by her colleagues. The last time the House expelled a member was in 2023, and before that, the practice had been dormant for over a century outside of Civil War-era cases.
The record before Congress is not thin. Twenty-five of 27 allegations sustained. A federal indictment. A not guilty plea but no acquittal. And a Democratic caucus that has shown it can work across the aisle when it wants to, just apparently not when one of its own is in the dock.
When the facts are this heavy and the silence from the other side is this loud, the House owes taxpayers a vote, not a stall.
