Allies of a former House Democrat under federal indictment are now facing potential criminal charges themselves. The House of Representatives unanimously agreed to hold two people in contempt of Congress on Tuesday — North Miami Beach, Florida, Mayor Michael Joseph and Hector Roos, a former aide to ex-Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla. — for failing to work with the House Ethics Committee's investigation into the disgraced Sunshine State Democrat.
It's now up to the Department of Justice (DOJ) whether it pursues criminal charges against both. A contempt of Congress conviction carries a fine of up to $100,000 and up to a year in jail. DISGRACED DEM CUT OFF FROM DOING BUSINESS WITH GOVERNMENT AFTER ALLEGED ‘OUTRIGHT FRAUD’ UNCOVERED "The committee cannot fulfill its obligations to safeguard the integrity of the House for witnesses, ignore its subpoenas, and the House cannot accept such willful disregard of its authorities.
Joseph willfully fail to comply with multiple subpoenas issued by the committee," Committee Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., said. "They impeded the investigative subcommittee's investigations into the allegations concerning former Representative Cherfilus-McCormick. Those allegations were serious and included violations of federal law to which Mr.
Their conduct warrants referrals to the United States Department of Justice for contempt of Congress." MIKE JOHNSON SAYS HE SUPPORTS EXPELLING SHEILA CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK OVER DOZENS OF ETHICS VIOLATIONS The measure passed by voice vote on Tuesday afternoon, meaning lawmakers were not individually put on the record over where they stand. Any lawmaker can stand and object to a voice vote and call for a roll call instead, which none did. The Democrats present instead signaled they were fully in support of the bid against their fellow left-wingers.
FLORIDA DEM FILED FOR RE-ELECTION DAYS BEFORE RESIGNATION AS HOUSE ETHICS COMMITTEE RAMPED UP PRESSURE "At a time when public confidence in Congress is at historic lows and the House's ability to self-police member conduct is under intense scrutiny, enforcing lawful congressional process is vital to delivering swift transparency and accountability for any misconduct," Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Calif., said. "A witness who refuses to cooperate with the Ethics Committee hinders the thoroughness and swiftness of an investigation." Guest charged that Roos "filed inaccurate reports" with the Federal Election Commission while working for Cherfilus-McCormick.
He said Roos did not provide adequate justification for not complying with the committee. Joseph was the president of a company that improperly provided corporate funds for the congresswoman's campaign, influenced her staff to submit community funding project requests for entities that he supported," Guest said of the other target. He said Joseph cited attorney-client privilege in his decision not to comply with the committee, but that lawmakers argued it was not a valid justification to dodge the probe.
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