You may hear House members calling for his ouster after the resignations of Reps. Tony Gonzales and Eric Swalwell, but Rep. Cory Mills looks to be on solid footing.
Despite months of scrutiny over a range of conduct issues — including accusations of illicit involvement in federal contracts and stolen valor — members of both parties say the circumstances are different for the Florida Republican.
Republicans and Democrats are leaning on bureaucratic rationalizations before leaping to a fresh wave of expulsions, despite growing alarm around congressional sleaze.
They say they’re waiting for the conclusion of an active House Ethics investigation into Mills before moving to crack down on him — a similar approach they’re taking with Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who is set to hear her formal punishment from Ethics next Tuesday after the panel found her guilty of two dozen counts of misconduct.
“I have a three part test — Has the member admitted to the conduct in question? Has there been a finding by a court? Or has there been a finding by the Ethics Committee?” Republican Rep. Nick LaLota said. “I don’t think that the Mills case meets any of those three criteria.”
“If there’s expulsion votes, if they’re political, I’m not interested,” said Rep. Brad Schneider, the chair of the centrist New Democrat Coalition. “If they are based on facts established by process, I’m gonna follow the facts.”
Mills said in an interview he had told Speaker Mike Johnson he was “unfairly lumped into this” with Swalwell and Gonzales as well as with Cherfilus-McCormick. Unlike Cherfilus-McCormick, he is not facing a federal indictment. And unlike Swalwell and Gonzales, he is not facing charges of sexual misconduct — something Mills said Johnson has acknowledged.
It’s not clear where the investigation into Mills stands. Johnson told reporters Tuesday he is “looking into” it. Republicans have quietly worried about the accusations against Mills for some time, but the GOP’s narrow House majority has complicated the prospect of leadership engaging in any sort of accountability.
What else we’re watching:
— FISA lives to face its next test: Johnson is figuring out how to move forward with a clean, 18-month extension of a key spy power — Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — as several Republicans plan to vote against a procedural step up for consideration Wednesday. Talks are ongoing between GOP leaders, hard-liners and the White House as the program faces an April 20 expiration.
— Sanders to Force Israel Arms Sales Vote: Sen. Bernie Sanders plans to force a vote Wednesday on two resolutions to block nearly half a billion dollars in U.S. arms sales to Israel. There’s renewed energy behind Sanders’ push as Democrats separately try to rein in Trump’s power to continue the Israel-U.S. war in Iran.
—Vought’s Budget Pitch: White House budget chief Russ Vought is set to defend Trump’s $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget request when he appears at House Budget on Wednesday. Meanwhile House Armed Services Chair Mike Rogers said Tuesday he expects to craft defense policy legislation with a $1.15 trillion budget topline, a move that could make the upcoming NDAA more politically palatable to Democrats.
Riley Rogerson and Hailey Fuchs contributed to this report.
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