House Ethics Committee still weeks from wrapping Cory Mills domestic violence probe

WASHINGTON (CN) — The House Ethics Committee said in a rare public statement Monday that it continues to conduct a “full and thorough investigation” of Florida Representative Cory Mills which has so far seen the panel authorize nearly two dozen subpoenas and collect thousands of documents.

But it could still be several weeks until the bipartisan ethics tribunal publishes the results of its probe, in which investigators are examining accusations that the Republican congressman assaulted a woman at his Washington, D.C., apartment last year — an incident which led to a police investigation.

The House Ethics Committee in November opened an investigation into Mills, 45, stemming from the reported February 2025 assault. D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department conducted its own inquiry into the matter but declined to charge the lawmaker.

Mills was also the target of an October 2025 restraining order levied by an ex-girlfriend, which restricted him from contacting her or going within 500 feet of her home or place of work.

The lower chamber’s ethics panel rarely issues public statements on its investigations. But in a statement published Monday afternoon, the committee said it was devoting “significant resources” to its Mills probe and that the accusations against him were “serious and complex.”

The Ethics Committee’s investigative subcommittee, the statement said, has so far authorized more than 20 subpoenas, received thousands of documents and contacted dozens of witnesses.

And the panel reiterated that it was investigating the circumstances surrounding the February 2025 domestic assault police probe and the court-ordered restraining order issued later that year.

“The ISC expects to receive additional relevant documents and testimony in the coming weeks and will take all necessary steps to conduct a full and thorough investigation,” the House ethics czars wrote. “The committee takes these and the other allegations very seriously and will continue to review them in a manner that ensures due process and prioritizes witness confidentiality and safety.”

Mills has long denied the accusations against him and resisted calls, including from some members of his own party, to step down from his position representing Florida’s 7th Congressional District.

But amid the ethical reckoning that has gripped the House in recent weeks, the Republican congressman has faced fresh calls to resign — and even threats of an expulsion resolution authored by a fellow Republican, Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina.

Mace has said that the accusations against Mills make him unfit to serve and has further accused the lawmaker of “stolen valor,” suggesting that he exaggerated his military record and that he was a U.S. Army Ranger and was awarded a Bronze Star.

Mills, meanwhile, has responded to Mace’s accusations by threatening to bring up his own resolution to expel the South Carolina congresswoman from the House. So far, neither lawmaker has acted on their threats.

The House Ethics probe into Mills comes after a flurry of high-profile resignations in the House by lawmakers accused of a range of malign conduct. Florida Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, a Democrat, resigned from Congress amid accusations that she stole millions of dollars in disaster aid to finance her political campaign. The congresswoman announced she would step aside moments before the House’s ethics panel was set to announce sanctions against her.

Cherfilus-McCormick is also facing criminal charges stemming from those same claims. She has denied the accusations against her.

Two other House lawmakers also stepped down last month amid a pair of sordid sexual misconduct scandals. California Representative Eric Swalwell, formerly the Democratic frontrunner in the Golden State’s gubernatorial race, resigned amid accusations that he sexually assaulted a former staffer. Swalwell has similarly denied those charges.

And Texas Representative Tony Gonzales, a Republican, stepped aside after admitting to soliciting explicit photographs from one of his former staffers, who later died by suicide outside her Uvalde, Texas, home. Gonzales has since been accused of additional misconduct with another former aide but has not commented on the fresh accusations.

The House Ethics Committee has also reportedly investigated accusations made against two North Carolina lawmakers: Representative Alma Adams, a Democrat; and Representative Chuck Edwards, a Republican.

Throughout the ethical maelstrom that has engulfed the House for the past several weeks, its ethics committee came under scrutiny as critics questioned whether it was doing an effective job probing reports of sexual misconduct against members of Congress — or whether victims felt safe coming forward to the panel.

In response, the Ethics Committee released another rare statement which included a decadeslong list of lawmakers it has investigated over such accusations. The panel said at the time that there should be “zero tolerance” for sexual misconduct, harassment or assault in the halls of Congress.

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