House Republican moves to censure Dem colleague over alleged FEMA fund theft

Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., is moving to censure his colleague from the other side of the aisle, Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., following an indictment alleging that she used federal disaster funds for her 2021 campaign.

“Tomorrow morning I will be filing a privileged motion to censure Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick and remove her from all committees,” Steube announced in a post on X on Wednesday night. “This is one of the most egregious abuses of public trust I have ever seen. Stealing $5 million in taxpayer disaster funds from FEMA of all places is beyond indefensible. Millions of Floridians have relied on FEMA after devastating hurricanes, and that money was supposed to help real disaster victims.”

Steube does not plan on stopping at the motion to censure Cherfilus-McCormick. He vowed to move to expel her from Congress.

“And once House Ethics concludes their investigation or she is formally convicted, rest assured I will move to expel her from Congress,” Steube wrote on X.

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The Justice Department said in a statement that in 2021, Cherfilus-McCormick and her brother, Edwin Cherfilus, operated a family healthcare company on a FEMA-funded COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract and received an overpayment of $5 million.

“The indictment alleges that the defendants conspired to steal that $5 million and routed it through multiple accounts to disguise its source. Prosecutors allege that a substantial portion of the misappropriated funds was used as candidate contributions to Cherfilus-McCormick’s 2021 congressional campaign and for the personal benefit of the defendants,” the DOJ said in its statement.

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Furthermore, according to the DOJ, Cherfilus-McCormick and Nadege Leblanc allegedly arranged additional funds using straw donors and funneled “other monies from the FEMA-funded COVID-19 contract to friends and relatives who then donated to the campaign as if using their own money.”

The Florida congresswoman is also accused of working with her 2021 tax preparer, David K. Spencer, to conspire to file a false federal tax return, according to the DOJ. The two allegedly “falsely claimed political spending and other personal expenses as business deductions and inflated charitable contributions in order to reduce her tax obligations.”

Attorney General Pam Bondi called Cherfilus-McCormick’s alleged crime “particularly selfish” and “cynical.” Additionally, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason A. Reding Quiñones said that the “indictment shows no one is above the law.”

“This individual and her family allegedly stole money from FEMA and then laundered it through friends toward her own personal benefits — including her campaign accounts. Today the FBI and partners at [DOJ] took action. No one is above the law,” FBI Director Kash Patel wrote in a post on X.

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If convicted, Cherfilus-McCormick faces up to 53 years behind bars, according to the DOJ. If convicted, her brother faces up to 35 years, Leblanc faces up to 10 years and Spencer faces up to 33 years, prosecutors said.

Fox News Digital reached out Cherfilus-McCormick’s office for comment.

Fox News’ Bill Melugin and David Spunt contributed to this report.