Southeast
House Republican to move to expel Dem accused of stealing disaster relief money for campaign
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Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., said Thursday he will be moving to expel a colleague from the other side of the aisle, Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., following an indictment alleging that she used federal disaster funds for her 2021 campaign.
While the congressman initially moved to file a motion to censure his colleague, he changed his mind on Thursday and instead called for her expulsion.
“I have decided to skip censure and move straight to expulsion,” Steube wrote on X. “Defrauding the federal government and disaster victims of $5 million is an automatic disqualifier from serving in elected office.”
“Cherfilus-McCormick needs to be swiftly removed from the House before she can inflict any more harm on Congress, her district, and the State of Florida,” he added.
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Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., speaks after being sworn in during a ceremony in the Broward County Commission chambers in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Jan. 27, 2025. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Steube said he would file the resolution on Thursday, saying that if Cherfilus-McCormick refused to resign and “save Congress the embarrassment of having to expel her,” he would bring it to the floor for a vote.
On Wednesday night, Steube initially said he would file “a privileged motion to censure” Cherfilus-McCormick on Thursday morning and to remove her from all committees in the wake of “one of the most egregious abuses of public trust I have ever seen.”
“Stealing $5 million in taxpayer disaster funds from FEMA of all places is beyond indefensible,” he wrote Wednesday. “Millions of Floridians have relied on FEMA after devastating hurricanes, and that money was supposed to help real disaster victims.”
“And once House Ethics concludes their investigation or she is formally convicted, rest assured I will move to expel her from Congress,” he added.
Cherfilus-McCormick responded to that Wednesday message in a statement provided to Fox News Digital.
“This is an unjust, baseless, sham indictment — and I am innocent. The timing alone is curious and clearly meant to distract from far more pressing national issues. From day one, I have cooperated with every lawful request, and I will continue to do,” Cherfilus-McCormick said. “I am deeply grateful for the support of my district, and I remain confident that the truth will prevail. I look forward to my day in court. Until then, I will continue fighting for my constituents.”
The Justice Department said in a statement that in 2021, Cherfilus-McCormick and her brother, Edwin Cherfilus, operated a family healthcare company on a FEMA-funded COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract and received an overpayment of $5 million.
“The indictment alleges that the defendants conspired to steal that $5 million and routed it through multiple accounts to disguise its source. Prosecutors allege that a substantial portion of the misappropriated funds was used as candidate contributions to Cherfilus-McCormick’s 2021 congressional campaign and for the personal benefit of the defendants,” the DOJ said in its statement.
Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Fla., condemns hate speech and misinformation about Haitian immigrants during a news conference at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 20, 2024. (J. Scott Applewhite, File/AP Photo)
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According to the DOJ, Cherfilus-McCormick and Nadege Leblanc allegedly arranged additional funds using straw donors and funneled “other monies from the FEMA-funded COVID-19 contract to friends and relatives who then donated to the campaign as if using their own money.”
The Florida congresswoman is also accused of working with her 2021 tax preparer, David K. Spencer, to conspire to file a false federal tax return, according to the DOJ. The two allegedly “falsely claimed political spending and other personal expenses as business deductions and inflated charitable contributions in order to reduce her tax obligations.”
Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormic was indicted by a Miami grand jury for allegedly stealing $5 million in FEMA funds on Wed, Nov. 18, 2025, according to the Department of Justice. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call via Getty Images)
Attorney General Pam Bondi called Cherfilus-McCormick’s alleged crime “particularly selfish” and “cynical.” Additionally, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Jason A. Reding Quiñones said that the “indictment shows no one is above the law.”
“This individual and her family allegedly stole money from FEMA and then laundered it through friends toward her own personal benefits — including her campaign accounts. Today the FBI and partners at [DOJ] took action. No one is above the law,” FBI Director Kash Patel wrote in a post on X.
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If convicted, Cherfilus-McCormick faces up to 53 years behind bars, according to the DOJ. If convicted, her brother faces up to 35 years, Leblanc faces up to 10 years and Spencer faces up to 33 years, prosecutors said.
Fox News’ Bill Melugin and David Spunt contributed to this report.
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Southeast
Byron Donalds’ gubernatorial campaign to deploy trolling video truck outside of Kamala Harris Miami event
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Republican Rep. Byron Donalds’ Florida gubernatorial campaign plans to deploy a truck outside of former Vice President Kamala Harris’ book tour stop in Miami on Thursday.
The truck will roll a video that delivers the message, “Kamala Harris and radical Florida Democrats are for they/them. Byron Donalds is for you,” Fox News Digital has learned.
Without naming them, the video also targets two Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls, showing a graphic that includes rainbow pride flags and images of Harris, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings and former U.S. Rep. David Jolly, a former House member who served in Congress as a Republican but who is running for governor as a Democrat.
Harris, who lost the 2024 presidential election, authored a book about her whirlwind campaign titled “107 Days.”
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Left: Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., leaves the U.S. Capitol after the last votes of the week on Thursday, March 27, 2025. Right: Byron Donalds gubernatorial campaign will deploy a truck playing a video to troll outside of former Vice President Kamala Harris’ book tour event in Miami on Nov. 20, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images; Friends of Byron Donalds PAC)
Her event in Miami is scheduled to take place on Thursday night.
In 2019, she touted her support for transgender surgery for prisoners, claiming that when she had previously served as California attorney general, she “made sure that they changed the policy in the state of California so that every transgender inmate in the prison system would have access to the medical care that they desired and need.”
The video that Donalds’ campaign plans to air on the truck outside the Miami event features snippets from her 2019 comments.
“Kamala Harris and Joe Biden’s policies devastated families with crushing inflation, open borders, and a radical agenda that weakened our country. Now, Jerry Demings and David Jolly are fighting to bear the torch for the Democrats and their radical policies in Florida,” chief strategist for Donalds’ gubernatorial campaign Ryan Smith said in a statement.
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Rep. Byron Donalds’ gubernatorial campaign plans to deploy a truck outside of former Vice President Kamala Harris’ Nov. 20, 2025, Miami book tour event. (Friends of Byron Donalds PAC)
“Kamala Harris and Florida Democrats are for they/them,” Smith added. “Byron Donalds is for you! As Governor, Byron Donalds will fight for common-sense policies to make life more affordable for every Floridian.”
Donalds launched his gubernatorial bid earlier this year after President Donald Trump pledged his endorsement in a Truth Social post.
“Byron Donalds would be a truly Great and Powerful Governor for Florida and, should he decide to run, will have my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, BYRON, RUN!” Trump declared in the post.
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Rep. Byron Donalds’ gubernatorial campaign plans to deploy a truck outside former Vice President Kamala Harris’ Nov. 20, 2025, Miami book tour event. (Friends of Byron Donalds PAC)
Earlier this month, billionaire Elon Musk declared in a post on X that Donalds has his “full support.”
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Southeast
Tennessee Democratic candidate caught saying she ‘hates’ Nashville, country music in resurfaced clip
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Democratic congressional hopeful Aftyn Behn did not hold back when describing how she really feels about Nashville — the city she’s now running to represent — in a 2020 podcast that’s resurfaced just days before the Dec. 2 special election.
“I hate the city, I hate the bachelorettes, I hate the pedal taverns, I hate country music, I hate all of the things that make Nashville apparently an ‘it’ city to the rest of the country. But I hate it,” she said in the podcast.
Behn, a Democratic state representative and former healthcare community organizer, is running against Republican nominee Matt Van Epps to represent Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District. The winner will succeed former GOP Rep. Mark Green, who resigned from office in June to take a private sector job.
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Democratic congressional nominee Aftyn Behn, a Tennessee state representative, is running in a Dec. 2 special election for a vacant U.S. House seat. (Aftyn For Congress)
The district, which is located in central and western Tennessee and stretches from Kentucky to Alabama, is solidly red. President Donald Trump carried the district by 22 points in his 2024 White House victory.
But the district includes parts of the Democratic stronghold of Nashville, Tennessee’s capital and its most populous city, and a major national center for the country music industry. The district encompasses parts of north and west Nashville, including the downtown area which has long been a very popular tourist destination.
“The Democrat running in a special election for Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District, Aftyn Behn, is running on the message: ‘I hate this place, elect me!’ Tennessee deserves better,” the Republican National Committee (RNC) argued in a social media post on Thursday.
Republican groups are pouring plenty of resources into the special election to avoid the possibility of a major upset and protect the GOP’s current razor-thin 219-214 majority in the House.
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Democrats, energized after their sweeping victories earlier this month in the 2025 elections, are optimistic about their chances in the special election. Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chair Ken Martin, who campaigned with Behn recently, argued that she has “an excellent shot to win.”
Republican candidate Matt Van Epps talks with attendees before a debate in Nashville on Sept. 5, 2025. (Nicole Hester/The Tennessean/USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
Behn is considered by many Democrats as a rising progressive star who some have dubbed the “AOC of Tennessee.”
Republicans are also taking aim at Behn over an op-ed titled “Tennessee is a racist state, and so is its legislature,” that appeared in a 2019 edition of The Tennessean newspaper.
The RNC, pointing in a social media post Wednesday to the six-year-old opinion piece, asked, “If Behn hates Tennessee so much, why is she trying to represent it?”
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Kate Briefs, campaign manager for Aftyn Behn for Congress, told Fox News Digital in a statement, “Republicans are panicking and in a last ditched attempt, they are distracting from the fact that Washington Republicans and Matt Van Epps are raising costs on Tennessee families and ripping away their health care while Aftyn Behn will lower Tennessee families’ costs and make groceries more affordable by eliminating the state’s grocery tax.”
Van Epps, the former commissioner of the Tennessee Department of General Services, was endorsed by Trump, which boosted him to primary victory last month in an 11-candidate race for the Republican congressional nomination.
Last week, Trump hosted a tele-rally for Van Epps in which he claimed Behn was a “Marxist” and linked her to Zohran Mamdani, the socialist mayor-elect of New York City, whom Republicans are aiming to make the new face of the Democratic Party.
The Van Epps campaign is asking the president to campaign in person in the district ahead of the special election.
A special election is being held in Tennessee’s 7th District to fill the seat left vacant when Republican Rep. Mark Green resigned in June to take a job in the private sector. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)
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Meanwhile, Republican-aligned outside groups are spending big bucks to run ads targeting Behn. As Fox News Digital first reported this week, the Trump-aligned super PAC MAGA Inc. launched spots backed by a seven-figure buy.
A Democratic strategist familiar with the race touted that “this is already a win. The fact that Republicans have spent over $2 million trying to hold a seat that Trump won by 22 points. Whether or not Aftyn Behn wins, overperforms, or loses, this is a win for us because Republicans know just how in trouble they are when they have to fight tooth and nail for a seat like this.”
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Southeast
Cruise ship death: Cheerleader’s stepmom could be forced to testify against her own son
FBI probes Florida teen’s death on cruise ship
Former FBI special agent Nicole Parker joins ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss the investigation of 16-year-old Anna Kepner’s death on a Carnival cruise ship, and how the FBI navigates a crimes in international waters.
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TITUSVILLE, Fla. — As the FBI investigates the mysterious death of an 18-year-old Florida cheerleader aboard a Carnival cruise ship, her stepmother’s courtroom fight with an ex is exposing new details — and may force her to testify against her son.
Friday marks two weeks since the aspiring Navy sailor Anna Kepner was found dead in her room aboard the Carnival Horizon cruise ship.
Authorities have not yet announced a cause and manner of death or an arrest, but a court battle between her 16-year-old stepbrother’s parents revealed that he is a suspect.
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Anna Kepner, her father, stepmother and some of her siblings in a family photo. According to her online obituary, Kepner’s blended family included five boys and three girls. (Shauntel Kepner/Facebook)
Krystal Wright, Anna’s aunt, confirms to Fox News Digital that Anna was found “wrapped in a blanket, covered in life jackets and stuffed under the bed.”
“It’s all just so crazy because this is in Florida, and I’m in Oregon,” she said. “Anna’s dad won’t say anything to me. I think it’s bulls— that he says he doesn’t know what’s going on or what happened because he absolutely does know.”
Two vehicles, a Dodge truck and Chevy SUV, were parked in the Kepners’ driveway Thursday, but no one answered the door, and her father and stepmother have not responded to other attempts to reach them.
One of the Kepners’ neighbors told Fox News Digital Thursday that their street has been quiet since Anna’s death. He said the Kepners are a friendly family.
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Anna Kepner was identified by her family as the passenger who died onboard the Carnival Horizon. (Instagram/Anna Kepner)
Kepner’s stepmother, Shauntel Kepner, asked a judge overseeing a custody dispute between her and her ex-husband, Thomas Hudson, to delay a hearing in that matter until after the criminal investigation comes to a close.
That dispute could put the stepmother in a legal bind, according to Donna Rotunno, a Chicago-based criminal defense lawyer and Fox News contributor. Shauntel’s Fifth Amendment defense could disappear if prosecutors offer her immunity while going after the teen.
“The mother does not have any privilege to not testify against her son,” Rotunno told “FOX & Friends” Thursday morning. “So, a court could compel her to testify, or she could be held in contempt. And if they believe the mother was involved in any way, they could give her immunity in order to get her to speak.”
Anna Kepner, 18, was found dead aboard a Carnival cruise ship on Nov. 7, during a vacation with her family. (Anna Kepner/Instagram)
Hudson accused Shauntel of alienating their two younger children from him, including the 16-year-old. Their oldest son, 18, went to live with his father after an alleged “violent altercation” involving Shauntel and Kepner’s father, Christopher Kepner.
“The [16-year-old]’s future has been put in jeopardy because of the choices made by [Shauntel],” Hudson wrote to the judge Monday.
The teen’s current whereabouts are unclear. According to the filing, he has been released from custody and is staying with an unnamed third party.
Shauntel, in a filing of her own, denied that their oldest son had been involved in any altercation with her new husband but conceded “there is an open FBI investigation involving” the 16-year-old.
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A still image shows 18-year-old Anna Kepner’s cryptic final TikTok post, posted eight days before she was found dead on a cruise ship. (@fl.anna18/TikTok)
A law enforcement source told Fox News Digital Wednesday that authorities have recovered surveillance video from the cruise ship showing Kepner with a “suspect” and that the FBI is reviewing hours of additional footage from the cruise before her death. Authorities also have access to records of room key swipes aboard the vessel, the source said.
The FBI’s Miami office is handling the investigation.
Nicole Parker, a former Miami-based FBI agent and Fox News contributor, used to handle maritime cases.
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Anna Kepner wrote that she would endure after a rough breakup in a video posted just days before she died under unknown circumstances. (@fl.anna18/TikTok)
“One thing that I realized as an investigator is that people think, ‘Oh, you know, if I commit a crime out at sea, no one’s ever gonna find out,’” she told “FOX & Friends” Thursday morning. “And little do they know and many times they’re shocked. It’s actually FBI’s jurisdiction.”
Before the ship returned to port, she said, the cruise line’s own security team would have secured the scene after Kepner was found dead Friday at around 11 a.m.
“Our evidence response team would be boarding that ship — in this instance, it would have been that Saturday morning and multiple interviews would be conducted,” she said. “I would be first asking for, I want all the CCTV, I want all the video surveillance footage. I also want the key-lock records, which indicate who went in and out of that ship cabin at the time that the potential crime may have occurred.”
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Agents would also interview everyone in the surrounding rooms, she said.
A memorial service for Kepner is scheduled for Thursday evening in her hometown of Titusville, Florida.
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