(Mark E. Johnson, Contributor) It’s business as usual among Democrats in Congress.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., came out sharply against Republican efforts to expel Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., over her indictment for stealing $5 million in COVID funds.
Since House rule requires a two-thirds majority to expel a member, it would take about 69 ‘yes’ votes from her fellow Democrats if all Republicans also voted ‘yes’. Jeffries is counting on his fellow Democrats to hold onto the seat in the narrowly divided House.
“If, in fact, there is a resolution that’s brought to the floor to try to expel the congresswoman, it’s going to fail,” Jeffries recently said at a press conference.
Earlier, Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., who is leading the effort to expel the congresswoman, said he would attempt to force a vote next week to expel her after a the House Ethics Committee uncovered “substantial” evidence to support the criminal charges against her.
The indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Miami last November accuses Cherfilus-McCormick and several co-defendants of conspiring to steal $5 million in overpayments to her family’s health care company, Trinity Healthcare Services, under a 2021 contract to register people for COVID-19 vaccinations.
Prosecutors say the funds were distributed to various accounts, including to friends and relatives who in turn donated to the campaign that got her elected to Congress. A “substantial portion” of the misappropriated funds were used for the campaign or for the “personal benefit” of Cherfilus-McCormick and others accused, prosecutors claim.
Cherfilus-McCormick has been charged with theft of government funds; making and receiving straw donor contributions; aiding and assisting a false and fraudulent statement on a tax return; and money laundering, as well as conspiracy charges associated with each of those counts.
