(The Center Square) – U.S. Rep. Cory Mills, the embattled congressman from Florida facing an expulsion resolution, remains defiant and separating himself from three other recent resignations.
“I don’t plan to resign,” Mills says.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said the investigations by the committee should be complete before any chamber action. There was none of the latter on Wednesday.
“He told me that this is why we have this process,” Mills said Tuesday in a network interview, speaking of Johnson advising him to not resign.
The resolution was filed Monday by South Carolina Republican Rep. Nancy Mace. The Ethics Committee is probing accusations of campaign finance law violations, special favors received in his position, sexual misconduct, and misused congressional resources.
“I personally think that you should allow due process,” he said.
He also pointed out Mace is under investigation as well – hers for reimbursement practices.
Mills said he’s not been arrested and doesn’t face criminal charges. A civil restraining order was issued last fall involving a former girlfriend.
If the proposal gets to the House floor, two-thirds of the chamber voting is necessary. And it would be rare.
George Santos, a Republican from New York, in 2023 was the last of six. Three were in 1861 tied to support of the Confederacy; Ozzie Myers, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, in 1980 was befallen by bribery accusations; and James Traficant Jr., an Ohio Democrat, in 2002 was expelled after conviction on 10 counts tied to bribery, racketeering and tax evasion.
Former Reps. Tony Gonzalez, a Republican from Texas, and Eric Swalwell, a Democrat from California, this month resigned in the face of sexual misconduct accusations. Rep. Shiela Cherfilus-McCormick, a Democrat from Florida, resigned Tuesday just before the Ethics Committee was to convene with guilty verdicts on 25 of 27 ethics charges against her.
Federal charges of stealing $5 million in COVID-19 relief money and routing it to her congressional campaign remain pending.
