{"id":20575,"date":"2026-03-26T12:02:03","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T12:02:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/you-lose-your-credibility-democrats-warn-against-turning-a-blind-eye-to-a-colleagues-misconduct\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T12:02:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T12:02:03","slug":"you-lose-your-credibility-democrats-warn-against-turning-a-blind-eye-to-a-colleagues-misconduct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/you-lose-your-credibility-democrats-warn-against-turning-a-blind-eye-to-a-colleagues-misconduct\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018You lose your credibility\u2019: Democrats warn against turning a blind eye to a colleague\u2019s misconduct"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

House Democrats will soon have to choose between protecting an embattled colleague or insulating themselves from politically damaging accusations of hypocrisy.<\/p>\n

The House Ethics Committee will begin the process Thursday of determining whether Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick warrants punishment as extreme as expulsion over accusations that she stole millions in FEMA funds and committed various campaign finance infractions. <\/p>\n

The bipartisan panel that typically operates in secret is holding a public \u201ctrial\u201d \u2014 the first in nearly 16 years \u2014 that will litigate those allegations as the third-term Florida Democrat faces federal criminal charges in her home state. Cherfilus-McCormick has maintained her innocence, saying \u201cthe full facts will make clear I did nothing wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

House Democratic leaders have so far taken a hands-off approach to the saga. <\/p>\n

Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and his office say that Cherfilus-McCormick is “entitled to her day in court and the presumption of innocence,” and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar of California told reporters Wednesday he also would not \u201cprejudge any outcome\u201d of the Ethics Committee\u2019s proceedings. <\/p>\n

But after Democrats agitated for the removal of serial fraudster Rep. George Santos of New York ahead of a full Ethics process in 2023, the party could be vulnerable to political attacks if it doesn\u2019t now police a credibly accused embezzler in its own midst. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf they give us conclusions that this actually happened, and there\u2019s no question of doubt as to the fact that laws were broken, then our colleague will have to face the consequences of that \u2014 it’s plain and simple,\u201d said Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) in an interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou lose your credibility if you’re applying a different set of laws and a different standard to people of the other party,\u201d he said. \u201cI mean, how could we ever justify anything we do if we only apply that to Republicans, and we don\u2019t follow the law?\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) said her party has to be mindful of how voters perceive corruption in Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there’s pressure on all of us in elected office right now,\u201d she said in an interview. \u201cNeither party is trusted by the public that we’re going to fight corruption. \u2026 I know from talking with my own constituents that this is a real issue for both parties, not just Republicans.\u201d<\/p>\n

These warnings come as Democrats have repeatedly over the past several months declined to punish their own members as they faced allegations of wrongdoing. They restored Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas to his post as the senior Democrat on the Homeland Security Appropriations subcommittee after he received a pardon by President Donald Trump; he had taken a leave of absence while being scrutinized for allegations of bribery. <\/p>\n

Most looked the other way when retiring Rep. Chuy Garc\u00eda of Illinois boxed out other potential successors and orchestrated his chief of staff\u2019s ascension to succeed him. And they helped Del. Stacey Plaskett of the Virgin Islands dodge a Republican-led censure attempt following revelations she had texted convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein during an Oversight Committee hearing. <\/p>\n

Now they\u2019ll have to decide what to do about Cherfilus-McCormick.<\/p>\n

A House Ethics subcommittee will meet Thursday afternoon to consider a motion for summary judgment \u2014 in effect, whether or not to declare her guilty. If it does, the full panel will schedule a hearing for a later date to determine what punishment to recommend, and the House will then vote to execute it.<\/p>\n

Members of the subcommittee could suggest something as minor, though embarrassing, as a reprimand or censure. It could also call for her expulsion. House GOP leaders believe they will have the requisite two-thirds majority to expel Cherfilus-McCormick and plan to force such a vote, according to three people granted anonymity to speak candidly about top House Republicans\u2019 plans. But leaders are waiting to see what the panel recommends at the conclusion of the trial.<\/p>\n

In a statement Wednesday, Cherfilus-McCormick said she was \u201cinnocent\u201d and a \u201cfighter,\u201d and she criticized the Ethics Committee for proceeding with the trial despite her request for a delay that would give \u201cmy legal team reasonable time to prepare.\u201d The committee already delayed the trial once after Cherfilus-McCormick lost her representation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI urge the Committee to follow its own precedents and uphold fairness and not allow this process to be driven by politics or numbers,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Santos is the most recent member of Congress to be expelled for using campaign donations for personal expenses \u2014 an action his colleagues took after the Ethics Committee issued a report substantiating the claims against him but before it could hold a trial and recommend punishment.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of my Republican colleagues thought it was premature. They thought that he should have gotten a trial before we expelled him,\u201d said Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.), who pushed for Santos\u2019 removal from office. \u201cI always said that he admitted to the very thing we were accusing him of was enough process \u2014 enough due process \u2014 to throw him out.\u201d <\/p>\n

Cherfilus-McCormick, in contrast, is pleading not guilty \u2014 which LaLota suggested could give Democrats some political cover to give her the benefit of the doubt. He added, however, \u201cThe accusations are totally gross. Kind of looks like she did it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The last time the House Ethics Committee held a formal trial was in 2010 for the late-Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.), who was ultimately censured for a vast range of violations, including tax evasion. <\/p>\n

Ethics Committee Chair Michael Guest (R-Miss.) said his panel has been reviewing the Rangel proceedings as a guide for how to approach the Cherfilus-McCormick trial, saying the committee intends to \u201cfollow the map that has been laid out in the previous hearings.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the Rangel episode was also a deeply emotional and uncomfortable situation for many of the beloved veteran lawmaker\u2019s peers, with Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), who was the chair of the Ethics Committee at that time, recalling in an interview that it was \u201ca very depressing experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some House Democrats are now struggling with the uncomfortable task of having to potentially render career-ending judgment on a colleague.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe’s a dear friend,\u201d said Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.). \u201cI am waiting, I think, like everyone else, to see how all of this plays out in court. That’s something that we all have the benefit of getting. I think you are innocent until proven guilty.\u201d <\/p>\n

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

House Democrats will soon have to choose between protecting an embattled colleague or insulating themselves from politically damaging accusations of hypocrisy. The House Ethics Committee will begin the process Thursday of determining whether Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick warrants punishment as extreme as expulsion over accusations that she stole millions in FEMA funds and committed various campaign […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20575\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}