WASHINGTON — Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., struck a defiant tone Tuesday in saying he has no plans to resign over a House Ethics Committee investigation and bipartisan pressure for him to leave Congress.
“If someone can give me a good reason, I’d be more than happy to listen to it. But until we can do that, absolutely not, no — I don’t plan to resign. We’re going to seek re-election,” he told reporters at the Capitol.
Mills said he is complying with the Ethics Committee's probe and has turned over documents, but that he has no sense of whether the panel is close to wrapping up the investigation it began in November.
“Anything they’ve asked of us, we’ve complied,” he said. “Why not let the investigating body and the Ethics Committee to be able to do their jobs? And so we comply. We’re very happy to see what the outcome is.”
The committee has said it is investigating allegations of “sexual misconduct and/or dating violence” and campaign finance violations in connection with Mills, who has denied wrongdoing.
Some lawmakers don't want to wait for the bipartisan panel's finding.
GOP Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina introduced a resolution Monday to expel Mills from Congress. "The swamp has protected Cory Mills for far too long and we are done letting it slide," Mace said in announcing the resolution.
Mace faces an ethics investigation of her own for allegedly overcharging Congress for housing costs. Her office said in a statement to Politico last month that she was "not taking seriously” the ethics complaint.
Three other House members facing various misconduct allegations resigned from Congress over the course of the past week. All three, like Mills, were facing potential expulsion votes.
Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., who was indicted on charges of stealing millions of dollars in federal relief funds and using some of that money to fund her congressional campaign, resigned Tuesday before the House Ethics Committee announced its recommended sanctions for her, which could have included expulsion from Congress.
The panel last month found her guilty of 25 ethics violations. She has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty in her federal case.
Former Reps. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, both resigned from their seats on the same day last week. Swalwell was facing allegations of sexual assault and misconduct, including from a former staffer, which upended his gubernatorial campaign in California days before he resigned from the House. He has denied the allegations against him.
Gonzales, meanwhile, admitted to having a romantic relationship with a former staffer who later died by suicide. A second woman who worked for Gonzales told NBC News he had sent her explicit texts. Gonzales’ office did not respond to those allegations. Gonzales was also facing an ethics investigation in the House; it's against House rules for lawmakers to have a romantic relationship with a staffer.
