House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., says he will oppose Rep. Greg Steube’s, R-Fla., motion to remove Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., from Congress as other Democrats are expected to vote against the effort.
“I’m a hard no, as it relates to the efforts to expel her, and it is going to fail,” Jeffries told reporters in a press conference.
The Department of Justice previously charged Cherfilus-McCormick for allegedly stealing over $5 million in COVID-19 disaster relief funds and making illegal campaign contributions. If convicted, she could face upward of 53 years in prison.
Steube, who filed the motion after Cherfilus-McCormick was indicted by the Department of Justice in November for fraud conspiracy, called the process “needlessly slow” and accused Democrats of “protecting their own.”
“I am told that Democrats will not support my motion to expel [Cherfilus-McCormick] before the Ethics Committee conducts its trial on March 5, leaving it short of the required two-thirds threshold,” Steube added on X.
Steube, however, vowed to make another push for the motion to expel McCormick after the Ethics Committee concludes their investigation.
Steube says his goal is to “remove her from Congress once and for all.”
Jeffries, Steube, and Cherfilus-McCormick did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment.
Thus far, the Ethics Committee has examined over 33,000 documents and conducted nearly 30 witness interviews. Based on their findings, the committee has released a 59-page statement of alleged violations.
According to the committee, the congresswoman received inflated payments from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that were paid out through the Florida Division of Emergency Management. Instead of returning the overpaid money, the committee alleged that Cherfilus-McCormick laundered the money through her personal consulting firm and her family’s LLCs.
The committee also claimed that Cherfilus-McCormick used some of the funds to make illegal contributions to her 2021 congressional campaign, spending money at at Tiffany & Co., Tesla, and on luxury travel.
After the committee released their initial findings, a federal judge in South Florida ordered the congresswoman to appear in court earlier this week.
Prior to her initial court appearance, Cherfilus-McCormick denied any wrongdoings.
“I reject these allegations and remain confident the full facts will make clear I did nothing wrong,” said the congresswoman in a statement claiming she is not guilty.
The committee has announced it will hold a hearing on March 5, yet it is still unclear if Cherfilus-McCormick will be required to testify.
