Congress

Cherfilus-McCormick attorneys request federal trial delay

Published

2 months ago

April 14, 2026

MIAMI — Attorneys involved in the case against Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick have requested a delay of her trial until February 2027, citing an exorbitant amount of files they must sift through.

The request comes less than a week before the trial, set to begin Monday in a Miami federal court. Cherfilus-McCormick, a Florida Democrat, faces 15 charges that include stealing $5 million in FEMA funds and routing that money toward her congressional campaign. The representative has said she’s innocent of the charges against her.

The letter requesting the delay — and agreed to by prosecutors — said lawyers already received more than 1.2 million records that include reports, bank documents and recordings, and have more batches expected in late May or early June, then another in the months following.

The latest filing was submitted by the attorney for Edwin Cherfilus, who is Cherfilus-McCormick’s brother and is also facing several charges related to the alleged theft. Other defendants cited in the request for delay include Cherfilus-McCormick’s chief of staff, Nadege Leblanc, as well as tax preparer David Spencer.

“The material covers information going back years,” public defender Srilekha Jayanthi wrote in the filing. “Due to the volume of the material, defense counsel are having to spend substantial time and resources to ensure this discovery is properly set up for their review and investigation as the litigation goes forward.”

The alleged crimes occurred before Cherfilus-McCormick was elected to Congress, when she was CEO of the family-run company Trinity Health Care Services. According to the indictment, the company delivered $50,578.50 in services during the Covid-19 pandemic, including vaccination outreach to communities of color. A clerical error resulted in the overpayment, but the indictment alleges Cherfilus-McCormick didn’t make efforts to return the money.

Cherfilus-McCormick also faces a verdict from the House Ethics Committee on April 21, when members will decide how to penalize her after finding her guilty of campaign finance rules tied to the indictment. Possible penalties include censure or expulsion from Congress. GOP Rep. Greg Steube’s office told Blue Light News he plans to proceed with his expulsion push after the committee completes its work.

Democrats haven’t called en masse for Cherfilus-McCormick to resign. Any changes to the makeup of the House are consequential given the razor-thin margin between the two parties. And expulsion of members is rare, requiring a two-thirds majority vote.

The representative could face up to 53 years in prison if found guilty in federal court. But should the trial be moved and Cherfilus-McCormick survive an expulsion vote, then she would continue to face a contested primary in what is considered a safe blue district that may change under mid-decade redistricting.

Congress

Trump-backed Marty O’Donnell wins primary for battleground Nevada House seat

Published

4 hours ago

June 10, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Trump-endorsed Marty O’Donnell won the GOP primary Tuesday to take on Democratic Rep. Susie Lee in Nevada’s battleground 3rd District.

The seat, which touches parts of Las Vegas, is one of Republicans’ targeted pickups this November since President Donald Trump carried it by less than 1 percentage point in 2024 after losing it by nearly seven points in 2020.

But O’Donnell — who also has the backing of the National Republican Congressional Committee — will face an uphill battle. He recently came under fire for hosting a neo-Nazi influencer on his podcast. Trump’s tariffs have hit the district hard, with Canadian tourism to Sin City down by 17 percent, leaving Democrats confident they can hold the seat.

O’Donnell is best known for his role as the audio composer for the “Halo” video game series. It’s his second run in the district after placing fourth in the 2024 Republican primary.

O’Donnell bested several candidates Tuesday, with businessperson Tera Anderson and former Ambassador to Iceland Jeff Gunter — who ran for Senate in 2024 — putting up the most significant challenges.

Congress

Sen. Lindsey Graham wins primary over ‘America First’ challenger

Published

7 hours ago

June 10, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham is on his way to clinching his fifth term in the Senate.

Graham won the Republican primary for Senate on Tuesday, vanquishing five opponents that included businessperson Mark Lynch — who challenged the senator over his staunch support for the war in Iran and long history in Washington. Lynch also drew support from some of the president’s most prominent MAGA Republican critics.

But Graham won more than half the primary vote, allowing him to avoid an embarrassing two-week runoff sprint. He is expected to cruise to victory in November; a Democrat has not represented the state in the Senate since 2005, when longtime Sen. Fritz Hollings chose not to seek reelection.

The four-term senator spent big in the final weeks of the campaign to make sure he won, combining with his allies to spend over $18 million in television and digital ads touting his record and endorsement from President Donald Trump. That spending proved to be decisive in staving off Lynch’s challenge from the right.

He even called in the big guns for a last minute bump, bringing in Trump, who reaffirmed his support for his occasional frenemy in a telerally on the eve of the primary election.

Graham’s success is a loss for the strict “America First” wing of the GOP that has criticized the president’s new interventionist foreign policy streak, including former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, former Trump White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and former counterterrorism official Joe Kent. They came out in support of Lynch during the final stretch of the campaign, though that was not enough to upset Graham, a fixture of Columbia and Washington politics.

Congress

20 House Republicans cross party lines to pass pro-union bill

Published

9 hours ago

June 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Twenty House Republicans broke with Speaker Mike Johnson to help pass a Democratic-led bill Tuesday aimed at making it easier for workers to form unions, widening the divide between a bloc of pro-labor Republicans and GOP leaders.

Democrats successfully used a discharge petition to sidestep Johnson and force the vote with the help of a handful of House Republicans, including Reps. Don Bacon of Nebraska, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Nick LaLota of New York.

“It’s passing,” Fitzpatrick said before the vote when asked about Johnson’s efforts to whip Republicans against the bill.

The Faster Labor Contracts Act aims to reduce the amount of time between workers voting to form a union and negotiating their first collectively bargained contract, in part by requiring the parties to more quickly enter federal mediation. It’s the latest in a series of employment bills that pro-union House Republicans have bucked their party on in recent months.

House Education and Workforce Chair Tim Walberg (R-Mich.) spoke out sharply against the bill on the floor Tuesday, saying it would “threaten jobs, kill growth and in some cases, shut business down entirely.” But a hefty subset of Republicans backed the bill nonetheless, joining all voting Democrats.