After resigning in the face of a House ethics probe, disgraced former Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick has been cut off from doing business with the federal government or receiving federal grants, aid or contracts.

This comes as Cherfilus-McCormick, a Florida Democrat, is charged with stealing $5 million in COVID-19 FEMA funds and making illegal campaign contributions. Cherfilus-McCormick resigned from Congress in late April after Republicans vowed to force a vote to expel her from the chamber. Though she resigned, Cherfilus-McCormick has denied any wrongdoing and is still running to regain her congressional seat this November.

Now, the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, announced that Cherfilus-McCormick has been suspended, a federal designation that temporarily bars her from receiving contracts, grants or other federal funds. Her brother, Edwin Cherfilus, along with other associates and affiliated entities named in the federal indictment, has also been suspended by DHS.

«Former Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick abused Americans’ trust in the most egregious way possible,» DHS General Counsel James Percival said in a statement. «She manipulated the COVID-19 crisis to funnel over $5 million of FEMA relief funds to her and her family members.»

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«This is outright fraud,» Percival added, continuing, «That’s exactly what a federal grand jury and the U.S. House of Representatives found.»

Percival said he is «proud that my office is taking the first step to ensure she is held accountable and American taxpayers’ money is protected from further misuse.»

Cherfilus-McCormick was indicted by a Miami grand jury in November 2025 for allegedly stealing $5 million from FEMA. The decision to resign from office came just before the House Ethics Committee was scheduled to recommend she be punished for misusing disaster relief funding that she allegedly funneled through several companies into her campaign coffers.

The committee found that she had committed 18 campaign finance violations, five counts of false financial disclosures, three counts of misusing official funds and one count of lack of candor.

Cherfilus-McCormick maintained her innocence, asserting that «This was not a fair process.»

She said in a press release that the House Ethics Committee «refused my new attorney’s reasonable request for time to prepare my defense.» She wrote, «I simply cannot stand by and allow my due process rights to be trampled on, and my good name to be tarnished.»

FLORIDA DEM FILED FOR RE-ELECTION DAYS BEFORE RESIGNATION AS HOUSE ETHICS COMMITTEE RAMPED UP PRESSURE

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y. did not call on Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick to step down before her resignation announcement. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images; Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

«Rather than play these political games, I choose to step away so that I can devote my time to fighting for my neighbors in Florida’s 20th district. I hereby resign from the 119th Congress, effective immediately,» she wrote.

DHS said that Cherfilus-McCormick’s suspension aligns with President Donald Trump’s executive order establishing the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud. The Trump Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, which is led by «fraud czar» Vice President JD Vance, has been directed by the president to combat fraud, waste and abuse in federal benefit programs, «restore integrity to taxpayer-funded safety-net programs» and ensure that benefits go only to eligible Americans.

Vance said last week that the task force has been «working around the clock to root out fraudsters who have taken advantage of Americans’ generosity for far too long.»

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U.S. Vice President JD Vance speaks during a Turning Point USA event at Akins Ford Arena at the Classic Center on April 14, 2026 in Athens, Georgia. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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He pointed out that since the task force was launched, it has exposed 447 California hospices suspected of more than $600 million in fraud, while the U.S. Small Business Administration has referred more than 560,000 fraudulent COVID-era loans totaling $22 billion to the Treasury for collection.

Fox News Digital reached out to Cherfilus-McCormick’s campaign for comment.

Armenia acoge este lunes la octava cumbre de la Comunidad Política Europea, un foro de discusión puesto en marcha en 2022 por iniciativa del presidente francés Emmanuel Macron que reúne a los Estados miembros de la Unión Europea y a países vecinos como el Reino Unido, Noruega, Turquía o los del Cáucaso. De invitada apareció hasta Canadá.

Pero la cumbre, más allá de las señales simbólicas al Kremlin y a la Casa Blanca, en tiempos en los que Europa ve en Washington un nivel de amenaza impensable hace año y medio, tiene un significado especial, así como la decisión de que se celebre en Erevan, capital armenia.

El país estuvo tradicionalmente bajo la tutela rusa, mientras su vecino y tradicional enemigo Azerbaiyán, provincia iraní hasta la Segunda Guerra Mundial, era más cercano a Turquía. En 2023, cuando Azerbaiyán lanzó su última ofensiva y expulsó a la población armenia de la región de Nagorno-Karabaj, Moscú, que debía garantizar la línea de frente y separar a las partes, dejó hacer a los azeríes. Armenia decidió acercarse a Europa.

El primer ministro Nikol Pashinyan cree que puede aspirar, como su vecina Georgia, a que su país reciba el estatuto de país candidato a la adhesión a la Unión Europea. El horizonte es largo y en ningún escenario Armenia entraría en la Unión antes de mediados o finales de la próxima década, pero esas candidaturas siempre han terminado por lograr su objetivo. Por eso el paso hacia ese estatus está lejos todavía para Armenia, que deberá coformarse durante años con el marco de relación actual.

Las relaciones se van normalizando porque Donald Trump, en un logro del que sí podría presumir en su carrera hacia el Nobel de la Paz, consiguió que el presidente azerí Ilham Aiyev y el primer ministro armenio Pashinyan firmaran en agosto en la Casa Blanca un acuerdo de paz que va normalizando las relaciones, además de que permite ir mejorando también la relación con Turquía.

Pero el escenario también tiene una fecha a corto plazo, en poco más de un mes. Pashinyan va a las urnas en unas legislativas que deben marcar el rumbo inmediato del país. Si el primer ministro consigue un resultado que le permita seguir en el cargo el país seguirá avanzando hacia Occidente y alejándose de Moscú. Por eso las instituciones europeas decidieron aprovechar esta cumbre para celebrar a la vez la primera cumbre bilateral entre la UE y Armenia.

Según la Comisión Europea, “esto marca un avance significativo en las relaciones, reafirmando el fuerte compromiso de la UE con la soberanía, la resiliencia y la agenda de reformas de Armenia”. Un apoyo político evidente. Además, Europa llega a Erevan un mes antes de las elecciones con una cesta de regalos: inversiones en energía, transportes, transición digital, asistencia militar, apoyo macroeconómico y la promesa de una futura liberalización de visas.

La Unión Europea mira al Cáucaso y ve una zona rodeada por potencias en conflictos o tensiones (Rusia, Irán, Turquía), pero también un corredor estratégico de recursos energéticos y de transportes hacia Asia.

Rusia juega con el palo. El pasado 1 de abril, con las cámaras de la televisión conectadas, el presidente ruso Vladimir Putin dijo a Pashinyan en el Kremlin: “Constatamos que en Armenia se está debatiendo sobre el desarrollo de las relaciones con la Unión Europea. Es nuestro deber decirlo francamente y desde ahora, sin rodeos, que pertenecer a una unión aduanera con la Unión Europea y simultáneamente a la Unión Económica Euroasiática es imposible. Simplemente imposible”. Y amenazó con multiplicar por cuatro el precio al que vende el gas a Armenia.

Pashinyan respondió: “Cuando los procesos lleguen al punto en que sea necesario tomar una decisión, nosotros, los ciudadanos de la República de Armenia, tomaremos esa decisión”.

Armenia, además, niega el derecho de voto a los residentes con pasaporte ruso, como pretendía Putin para influenciar la elección del 7 de junio. Rusia se limita por ahora a lanzar ciberataques y campañas de desinformación para intentar influenciar el resultado electoral, pero los sondeos dicen que Pashinyan seguirá en el cargo.

There are growing fears among some in Syria that the government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa has the aim of clamping down on the rights and freedoms of its civilians by promoting a more conservative interpretation of Islam.

Local authorities in Syria’s capital, Damascus, recently banned restaurants and bars from selling alcohol in most parts of the city. Only venues in the majority-Christian neighborhoods of Damascus would be allowed to continue to sell alcohol, but only for takeaway. The move sparked minor protests throughout the capital, with security forces sent in to maintain order. 

«What you’re seeing is pressure from one part of Syrian society, the clerics and sort of harder-line Islamists who have a vision, an Islamist vision of how Syrian society should be,» Robert Ford, former ambassador to Syria, told Fox News Digital. Syria’s temporary constitution is guided by Islamic law.

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Syria’s social affairs minister, Hind Kabawat, a Christian and the only woman in al-Sharaa’s cabinet, pushed back on the idea that alcohol can only be consumed in Christian neighborhoods.

«Our neighborhoods are not places for alcohol, but the heart of Damascus,» she said in a Facebook post.  

«The strength of our nation is in its diversity, and any radical, extremist voice will cause our nation’s weakness,» she added.

In response to the outcry, Damascus authorities walked back the ban, saying that alcohol purchases could remain in places important for tourism, such as hotels and certain restaurants.

The move is a significant departure for everyday Syrians living in Damascus, where alcohol was readily available in bars and restaurants for decades, even under the authoritarian and oppressive rule of former dictator Bashar al-Assad.

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«Steps like these, which restrict freedoms in Syria, are worrying. When they have occurred far from Damascus, the central government can argue that it lacks sufficient control. But it is particularly meaningful to see such steps in Damascus since President al-Sharaa dominates there,» Mara Karlin, a former Department of Defense official and professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), told Fox News Digital.

«If he is pushing an Islamist Syria, then it calls into question how much he is moving beyond his history,» Karlin added.

Al-Sharaa, who led the Islamist rebel group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) to victory over Assad, has been on an international charm offensive since taking power, visiting foreign capitals and reintegrating Syria into the global community.

The Eagles of Antioch protest in Damascus following the burning of a Christmas tree by extremists during Christmas 2024. (Obtained by Fox News)

President Trump even endorsed al-Sharaa, who first met with him in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in May 2025 and again in November 2025 when Trump hosted him at the White House, the first time a Syrian leader had visited the White House since the country gained independence in 1946.

Karlin, who testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee in February on the challenges facing Syria after the fall of Assad, said that, while the Syrian government does include former jihadists, they have been mostly pragmatic and non-ideological in their governance.

She noted, however, that their reach beyond Damascus is weak and limited.

«There have been some troubling instances of restrictions on women’s freedom, for example, and indicators such as these merit close scrutiny for evidence of the Syrian government’s influence and ideology.»

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President Donald Trump meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the White House on Nov. 10, 2025. (Syrian Presidency/Anadolu)

Ford, who was the last U.S. ambassador in Damascus in 2011, stressed that al-Sharaa is not a democrat and probably would like to impose parts of an Islamist vision on Syria, but has so far held back since overthrowing the Assad regime in 2024.

The ordinances in Damascus and elsewhere are imposed by local officials, but these officials are directly tied to the government and are loyal to al-Sharaa and likely support an Islamist vision for Syria.

Some worry the ban on alcohol could harm Syria’s fragile post-conflict reconstruction, particularly at a time when al-Sharaa is trying to reintegrate Syria into the world economy and rebuild the country’s tourism sector.

The World Bank estimated Syria’s reconstruction costs are about $216 billion after nearly 14 years of civil war. Syria’s minister of tourism previously said the country will need at least $100 million over the next seven years to rebuild the tourism industry.

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Alcohol isn’t the only target of some local authorities in Syria. Officials in the port city of Latakia in February banned women from wearing makeup at work. Another town outside Damascus prohibited men from working in female clothing stores to uphold public decency.

Ford said although some of the local ordinances are a cause for concern, it is a domestic issue, and Syrians will have to determine the role of religion in post-Assad Syria.

THE Associated Press contributed to this article.