The House Ethics Committee is poised to hold a rare public hearing to consider charges of financial misconduct against Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.), Axios has learned.
Why it matters: A public meeting of any kind is highly unusual for the secretive panel, which hasn't held a televised disciplinary hearing in nearly 15 years.
- As Cherfilus-McCormick's chief of staff Naomie Pierre-Louis put it to Axios: "Public ethics trials are extremely rare."
- Cherfilus-McCormick has denied the allegations against her.
Driving the news: An investigative subcommittee of the Ethics panel released a 59-page report last week detailing a litany of allegations against Cherfilus-McCormick.
- Most notably, it said there is "substantial" evidence to back up criminal charges the Florida Democrat is facing that she laundered a $5 million government contract overpayment to her family business and funneled it into her congressional campaign.
- The report also alleged instances of misreporting campaign finances, accepting illegal donations, improper employment practices and steering federal funding towards allies and associates.
- Cherfilus-McCormick has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges and said she rejects the findings of the report, saying she lacked a "fair opportunity" to rebut them due to her ongoing legal battle.
State of play: In a press release accompanying the report, the panel said it took the unusual step of convening a separate "adjudicatory subcommittee" to "determine whether any counts in the [report] have been proved by clear and convincing evidence."
- That panel, made up of four Republicans and four Democrats who didn't serve on the investigative subcommittee, has scheduled a hearing of March 5, 2026, the press release said.
- Unlike typical Ethics Committee meetings, adjudicatory hearings are subject to House rules requiring that panels meet in open session unless they specifically vote otherwise.
- The Ethics Committee rarely convenes adjudicatory subcommittees, only having done so in a handful of major cases.
Zoom out: The panel's last hearing to be broadcast on C-SPAN was in 2012, when it considered allegations that Rep. Maxine Waters' (D-Calif.) grandson and then-chief of staff violated House rules on financial conflicts of interest.
- Former Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) was the last House member to face a public hearing in 2010 over allegations of tax evasion.
- C-SPAN also broadcast hearings in 2002, when former Rep. Jim Traficant (D-Ohio) faced corruption and racketeering allegations; in 1997, when then-Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) came under scrutiny for a $4.5 million book advance; and in 1989, when then-Speaker Jim Wright (D-Texas) faced similar allegations of accepting improper gifts and income.
The intrigue: Even the Ethics Committee's most high-profile investigations in recent years have not featured an adjudicatory subcommittee.
- That includes the truncated case of former Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who was expelled from Congress in 2023 after an Ethics report accused him of a "complex web of unlawful activity."
- Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) resigned in 2024 shortly before the release of an Ethics report that accused him of having sex with a 17-year-old, which he denies. His case did not involve an adjudicatory subcommittee either.
- Cherfilus-McCormick has been under investigation by the Ethics Committee since 2023 and faces up to 53 years in prison if convicted of the federal criminal charges she is facing.
What they're saying: "That hearing is generally an open hearing unless there is a request [by the defendant] to close it," Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.), the chair of the Ethics Committee, told Axios.
- "No decision has been made on whether the hearing will be closed at this point," Guest added.
The other side: Pierre-Louis, asked if Cherfilus-McCormick has requested a closed hearing, told Axios, "We're letting the process do its thing."
- "If they open it, it's a decision they would have made on their own," she added, noting that the matter "has not been decided."
What to watch: Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) has said he plans to force a vote on expelling Cherfilus-McCormick from Congress after her Ethics Committee hearing.
- He had planned to force the vote the vote as early as this week but told Axios he was persuaded by Republican leadership to wait until the Ethics process is concluded to give it the best possible chance of passing.
- Expulsion requires a two-thirds majority to pass, and Democrats have made clear they wouldn't vote to expel Cherfilus-McCormick at least until the Ethics Committee finishes its process.
- House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told reporters last week that if Republicans force a vote to expel Cherfilus-McCormick "at this moment," it is "going to fail."
The bottom line: Whether Cherfilus-McCormick is expelled or not, one House Democrat familiar with her situation told Axios, "She's in trouble ... and I'm not talking politically,"
- "You get your process, but ... read that [report]," the lawmaker said. "It's crazy."
