The drumbeat to boot U.S. Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick from Congress is growing louder in Washington.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Tuesday that he fully expects the South Florida congresswoman to be expelled.
"The Ethics Committee has gone through all of its processes, and they found some alarming facts," Johnson told reporters on Tuesday. "I think the facts are indisputable at this point, and so I believe it will be the consensus of this body that she should be expelled."
Johnson was referring to the House Ethics Committee. Late last month, it found that Cherfilus-McCormick committed numerous violations of House rules and ethics standards. Following a seven-hour hearing, the ethics panel of four Democrats and four Republicans found that she committed 25 ethics violations, including breaking campaign finance laws. The panel is set to recommend a punishment on April 21. Two-thirds of the House must vote to remove a member of Congress from office.
The allegations center on Cherfilus-McCormick’s receipt of millions of dollars from her family’s health care business following Florida’s overpayment of roughly $5 million in disaster relief funds. Cherfilus-McCormick is accused of using that money to fund her 2022 congressional campaign through a network of businesses and family members.
The congresswoman, who is running for a fourth term representing her South Florida district that includes Broward and Palm Beach counties, has denied wrongdoing.
Republican Rep. Nancy Mace and Republican Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, of Florida, have called for Cherfilus-McCormick to resign.
READ MORE: House Ethics Committee sets April 21 hearing to decide Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick’s political fate
Some Democrats share the same opinion about Cherfilus-McCormick.
Prominent Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, of New York, said she would go along with the House Ethics panel’s recommendation.
"If the Ethics Committee found her guilty, then I would vote in accordance with that," she told reporters.
Meanwhile, a federal judge in Miami on Tuesday granted a delay in the upcoming criminal trial for Cherfilus-McCormick until February 2027 due to the large volume of documents filed in the case.
She is facing federal charges for allegedly stealing the $5 million in COVID-19 disaster relief funds and using it for purchases like a 3-carat yellow diamond ring. Her brother, former chief of staff and accountant were also charged. She has pleaded not guilty to those charges.
The federal trial was supposed to start on Monday.
