By Camila DeChalus
2小时前
发布于2026年3月26日，美国东部时间下午5:25
众议院议员谢拉·切尔菲卢斯-麦考密克周四出席伦理委员会听证会。
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
民主党众议员谢拉·切尔菲卢斯-麦考密克周四出现在众议院伦理委员会面前，参加一场罕见的公开听证会，以应对她被指控挪用数百万联邦救灾资金并将其用于支持2021年竞选活动的指控。
这场“审判”再次引发人们对国会如何监督其成员的关注，并给民主党带来更大压力。民主党此前曾抓住其共和党同僚的高调起诉和伦理程序（包括推动驱逐前众议员乔治·桑托斯）不放，试图在华盛顿重夺权力。虽然与切尔菲卢斯-麦考密克正在进行的刑事诉讼无关，但这次听证会最终可能决定她是否会受到其他议员的惩罚。
“我们面临的指控极其严重。它们不仅涉及个别议员的行为，还影响公众对众议院作为一个机构的诚信的信心，”委员会最高民主党议员、加利福尼亚州众议员马克·德索莱尼埃在承认对这位佛罗里达州女议员的指控严重性时表示。
“今天，在公众对我们机构的信心如此低落的时刻，本委员会在执行国会伦理程序和维护众议院诚信方面的作用再重要不过了，”他继续说道。
切尔菲卢斯-麦考密克的法律顾问在听证会公开部分辩称，鉴于正在进行的联邦案件，小组应暂停调查，称这可能会侵犯“她获得公正审判的宪法权利”。
“如果她的陪审员已经听说她被众议院认定有罪，她怎么可能在法庭上进行公正审判？这是不可能的，”律师威廉·巴泽告诉议员们。
但一些议员对此表示反对。
“我们不是在法庭上。我们不是在处理刑事案件。我们是一个独特的机构，我们处理的是规则，而不是任何类型的刑事判决，我想稍微反驳一下，我们没有侵犯她的宪法权利，”北卡罗来纳州共和党众议员布拉德·诺特表示。
去年11月，美国司法部以多项指控起诉切尔菲卢斯-麦考密克，检察官指控她挪用500万美元联邦紧急事务管理局（FEMA）的超额付款——这些款项是她的家庭医疗保健公司通过联邦资助的新冠疫苗接种人员合同获得的。检察官称，其中一些资金随后被用于通过候选人捐款来支持她的竞选活动。
这位正在第二任期内的女议员上月对这些指控不认罪。
在起诉时，司法部长帕姆·邦迪称所谓行为“是一种特别自私、愤世嫉俗的犯罪”，并表示“没有人凌驾于法律之上”。
国会伦理办公室在之前发布的报告中发现，切尔菲卢斯-麦考密克2021年的收入比2020年高出600多万美元，这主要是由于她为Trinity Healthcare Services工作获得了近575万美元的咨询费和利润分享费。众议院伦理委员会在7月一致投票决定，重新授权第119届国会的调查小组委员会，调查涉及这位女议员的指控。
众议院议长迈克·约翰逊称针对切尔菲卢斯-麦考密克的指控“非常严重”，但指出内部程序必须完成。
“驱逐显然实际上是政治上的死刑。有些情况符合这个标准，但这是由众议院全体成员决定的。所以，你要考虑所有因素，然后做出决定，我们会在这里进行（决定），”这位共和党领袖表示。“在这种情况下，似乎这位国会议员严重违反了法律，剥削了纳税人及其他所有人，那将是必要的严厉惩罚。这是事实。这将是众议院全体成员的决定。”
众议院民主党核心小组主席皮特·阿吉拉在被问及民主党是否愿意接受如果委员会建议驱逐，是否会接受该女议员被从众议院开除时告诉记者：“我们拭目以待。”
“我们认为，切尔菲卢斯-麦考密克议员有机会在众议院内部以及法庭上为自己辩护，”他周三表示。
当被问及本周早些时候该党是否会反对驱逐时，众议院民主党领袖哈基姆·杰弗里斯告诉记者：“下一个问题。”
CNN的Veronica Stracqualursi、Aileen Graef以及美联社对此报道有贡献。
Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick appears before House Ethics for rare public hearing
By Camila DeChalus
2 hr ago
PUBLISHED Mar 26, 2026, 5:25 PM ET
Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick appears for a hearing of the House Ethics Committee on Thursday.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick appeared before the House Ethics Committee on Thursday in a rare public hearing to face allegations she stole millions in federal disaster funds and used it to bolster her 2021 campaign.
The “trial” places renewed attention on how Congress polices its own members, and increases pressure on Democrats, who have before seized on the high-profile indictments and ethics proceedings of their Republican colleagues — including pushing to expel then-Rep. George Santos – as they look to win back power in Washington. While separate from criminal proceedings underway against Cherfilus-McCormick, the hearing could ultimately determine what, if any, punishment she may face from her fellow lawmakers.
“The allegations before us are extremely serious. They not only concern an individual member’s conduct, they also implicate the public’s confidence in the house’s integrity as an institution,” said Rep. Mark DeSaulnier of California, the top Democrat on the committee, acknowledging the severity of the allegations against the Florida congresswoman.
“Today at a time when public confidence in our institution is so low, this committee’s role in enforcing congressional ethics process and defending the integrity the house could not be more important,” he continued.
Cherfilus-McCormick’s legal counsel argued during the public portion of the proceeding that the panel should pause its investigation amid an ongoing federal case, arguing it could risk violating “her constitutional rights to a fair trial.”
“How can she possibly go into court and have a fair trial if her jurors have already heard that she was found guilty by the House of Representative? It’s an impossibility,” attorney William Barzee told lawmakers.
But some lawmakers pushed back.
“We’re not in a court of law. We’re not dealing in a criminal matter. We are a body that’s unique unto itself. We’re dealing with rules. We’re not dealing with any type of criminal adjudication, I want to just push back on that a little bit that we are not violating her constitutional rights,” Republican Rep. Brad Knott of North Carolina said.
In November, the Justice Department indicted Cherfilus-McCormick on charges, with prosecutors accusing her of stealing $5 million in Federal Emergency Management Agency overpayments that her family health care company had received through a federally funded Covid-19 vaccination staffing contract. Prosecutors allege that some of those funds were then used to benefit her campaign through candidate contributions.
The congresswoman, who is serving her second full term in office, pleaded not guilty to those charges last month.
At the time of the indictment, Attorney General Pam Bondi called the alleged conduct “a particularly selfish, cynical crime,” saying that “no one is above the law.”
In a previously issued report, the Office of Congressional Ethics found that Cherfilus-McCormick’s income in 2021 was more than $6 million higher than in 2020, driven by nearly $5.75 million in consulting and profit-sharing fees received for work for Trinity Healthcare Services. The House Ethics Committee voted unanimously in July to reauthorize an investigative subcommittee for the 119th Congress to examine allegations involving the congresswoman.
House Speaker Mike Johnson called the allegations against Cherfilus-McCormick “a very serious matter,” but noted the internal process must play out.
“Expulsion, obviously, is effectively the political death penalty. There are occasions that that meet that standard, but it’s a decision of the body to determine that. So, you look at all the factors, and you figure that out, we’ll be doing that here,” the Republican leader said. “In this case, it seems that this member of Congress has egregiously violated the law and exploited taxpayers and all the rest, and that that would be, it would be a harsh penalty necessary for that. It’s true. It’ll be a decision of the body.”
House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar told reporters, “We’ll see what happens,” when asked whether Democrats would be willing to accept the congresswoman’s removal from the House if the committee were to recommend it.
“We believe that Rep. Cherfilus-McCormick has an opportunity to defend herself both from the allegations here under the dome as well as those in a courtroom,” he said Wednesday.
And asked earlier this week whether the party would oppose expulsion, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters: “Next question.”
CNN’s Veronica Stracqualursi and Aileen Graef and The Associated Press contributed to this report.