(José Niño, Headline USA) Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., is facing scrutiny regarding his marriage to a Muslim woman, allegations of domestic assault, and potential ethics violations related to his defense contracting companies.
One of the most recent controversies surrounding Mills emerged on Wednesday, when The Blaze released an investigative report revealing that Mills was married by a radical Islamic cleric named Mohammed Al-Hanooti. This has raised questions about Mills’ religious affiliations, as he has publicly presented himself as a Christian throughout his political career.
According to the marriage certificate verified by The Blaze, Mills married Rana Al Saadi in 2014 at the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Virginia. The mosque has been described in some sources as “reputed to be the most extremist mosque in America.” The ceremony’s officiant, Mohammed Al-Hanooti, was reportedly an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and allegedly involved in fundraising efforts for the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
WOW—This is insane@CoryMillsFL needs to resign ASAP👇
Article: https://t.co/TaklKIpDTt pic.twitter.com/gIETnR7Jij
— Anthony Sabatini (@AnthonySabatini) May 7, 2025
When confronted with these facts, Mills vehemently denied converting to Islam, explaining that the arrangement was made out of necessity.
“I don’t know the damn guy. I didn’t have a relationship with the guy, so I can’t tell you anything other than the fact that he was sick,” Mills said to The Blaze. He claimed the urgent marriage was necessary because his wife needed to visit a dying relative in Iraq and without the certificate, she “would’ve been arrested” due to complications with her previous marriage.
Mills explained that Al-Hanooti was “the only Iraqi imam that her mom [could] get in contact with who would do this for us.”
Robert Spencer, founder of Jihad Watch, contested Mills’ claim, stating it was unlikely that an imam like Al-Hanooti would have performed the marriage without Mills converting to Islam:
Sharia stipulates that a Muslim woman may not marry a Christian or any other non-Muslim man… Thus it is virtually certain that Al-Hanooti, as a knowledgeable and believing imam, required Mills to convert to Islam before he married Rana Al Saadi.
Spencer speculated that perhaps Mills recited the shahada (Islamic declaration of faith) in Arabic without fully understanding its significance.
In February 2025, Mills became the subject of an assault investigation following an incident involving Sarah Raviani, co-founder of Iranians for Trump.
On February 20, 2025, Metropolitan Police in Washington D.C. responded to a call at a penthouse apartment in the Wharf area of Southwest D.C. Police reports obtained by various news outlets indicated that Raviani alleged Mills had “grabbed her, shoved her, and pushed her out of the door.” Officers observed “bruises on her arm which appeared fresh.”
According to one police report, Mills allegedly admitted to officers that “the situation escalated from verbal to physical” and was “severe enough to create bruising.”
Subsequently, both Mills and Raviani issued statements denying any physical altercation took place.
“This week, law enforcement was asked to resolve a private matter at Congressman Mills’ residence,” a spokesperson for Mills said in a statement. “Congressman Mills vehemently denies any wrongdoing whatsoever, and is confident any investigation will clear this matter quickly.”
Raviani released a statement claiming that the bruises were from “medical conditions and activities from a recent overseas trip.”
The Metropolitan Police Department sent an arrest warrant to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, but it was never signed. The department also launched an internal investigation into its own handling of the incident.
This situation revealed that Mills, who is married to Al Saadi, has been in a relationship with Raviani. Reports from Business Insider indicated that Mills and Al Saadi have been in divorce proceedings for approximately two years.
Mills’ personal problems have not stopped there.
Former Florida State Representative Anthony Sabatini, who ran against Mills in the Republican primary for Florida’s 7th district in 2022, has accused Mills of exaggerating his military record, particularly his Bronze Star award for actions during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.
JUST IN—This guy @CoryMillsFL lied about his entire “biography”
The House Ethics Committee is currently investigating him for numerous financial crimes
And he recently beat his girlfriend until she was “severely bruised”
Nasty guy—he needs to be removed from office ASAP pic.twitter.com/i5KsbxZHjC
— Anthony Sabatini (@AnthonySabatini) May 5, 2025
The award citation stated Mills had saved soldiers Joe Heit and Alan Babin under enemy fire, but Heit told reporters Mills “didn’t save my life” and “I don’t recall him being there.” Henry Barbe, a medic involved in Babin’s evacuation, similarly stated that he had no recollection of Mills being in his unit.
“From what I understand about Mills is he might have been in the unit. I don’t remember him being involved in the medevac,” Barbe stated. “To be fair, I was worried about the patients. I don’t remember him, and from what I understand, other people don’t remember him.”
Mills defended the award’s legitimacy, noting that recommendations for military honors are initiated by commanding officers, not soldiers themselves.
Adding to these personal controversies, Mills is also under investigation by the House Ethics Committee regarding his business interests.
In March 2025, the Office of Congressional Ethics (now the Office of Congressional Conduct) found “substantial reason to believe” that defense contracting companies owned by Mills had contracts with the federal government while he was serving in Congress. This could potentially violate House rules, standards of conduct, and federal law.
The companies in question — Pacem Defense, LLC, Pacem Solutions International, LLC, and ALS, Inc. — primarily manufacture “less than lethal ammunitions” for “federal law enforcement agencies and the U.S. Department of Justice.”
Despite all the controversy, Mills appears posed to recapture his seat in the coming midterms. According to a recent report from Florida Politics, he raised $284,000 in the first quarter of this year, while his Democrat opponent raised less than $1,800.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
