There was once upon a time when the news media pretended to care about congressional ethics, and made an effort to cover alleged violations of the public trust. Nowadays, the Elitist Media appear to deploy an obvious double standard when covering these.
Consider the case of Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-Mccormick (D-FL). McCormick has been indicted by a federal grand jury on multiple charges related to the alleged theft of FEMA funds. The sole evening newscast item on her charges came last fall, a quick brief on the NBC Nightly News:
IT'S (D)IFFERENT: Rep. Sheila Cherfilus McCormick is set to face a public Ethics Committee hearing, and yet the sole network newscast report on her charges aired last November. Compare the lack of coverage viz nature of the charges to that of George Santos. A clear double… pic.twitter.com/RJOjshVjcK
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) March 26, 2026
TOM LLAMAS: Also tonight, a congressman is facing calls to resign after she was charged with stealing FEMA funds. Democratic Florida Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick was indicted by a federal grand jury on charges she stole more than $5 million dollars of taxpayer money meant for disaster relief. She denied the charges, calling them intimidation tactics, and said she won’t resign.
There has been no coverage on the evening news or anywhere else since, and the House Ethics Committee is set to hold a public hearing tomorrow. Per Axios:
House Democrats say privately that they may be unable to maintain their silence much longer on the explosive allegations of misuse of taxpayer funds against Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick (D-Fla.).
Why it matters: Cherfilus-McCormick, who has denied any wrongdoing, may face calls for resignation or even expulsion from her own party if the Ethics Committee process goes as many of her colleagues expect it to.
The reason that Democrats have been able to seethe quietly about Cherfilus-McCormick is because the media have given them the space to do so by not incessantly covering the charges in exacting detail. What exacting detail? Per the Department of Justice:
According to the indictment, Cherfilus-McCormick, 46, and her brother Edwin Cherfilus, 51, both of Miramar, worked through their family health-care company on a FEMA-funded COVID-19 vaccination staffing contract in 2021. In July 2021, the company received an overpayment of $5 million in FEMA funds.
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 indictment further alleges that Cherfilus-McCormick and Nadege Leblanc, 46, of Miramar, arranged additional contributions using straw donors, funneling 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.
This, of course, was NOT the standard at play when it was George Santos coming under federal scrutiny for funneling campaign donations into several luxury purchases. The media pounded the drums until Santos, a Republican, was expelled from Congress. Cherfilus-McCormick warrants at least as much coverage as Santos got for (allegedly) turning federal Covid funds into campaign donations. With Santos, who eventually pled guilty to his charges, we got a drumbeat of coverage until he was run out of Congress. With Cherfilus-McCormick? Silence.
This case reminds us, as is often the case with the Elitist Media, that if it weren't for double standards there would be none at all.
It’s (D)ifferent like that.
