Politics
Ethics report details allegations Cory Mills held contracts with federal agencies after election to Congress
The House Ethics Committee has released a report detailing allegations against U.S. Rep. Cory Mills. That report recommends that further investigation will occur.
The Office of Congressional Ethics prepared the report, which revealed specific allegations that Mills, a former defense contractor, “may have entered into, held, or enjoyed contracts with federal agencies while serving in Congress.”
“Prior to being sworn in to Congress, Rep. Mills made a series of public statements regarding his business dealings with U.S. law enforcement agencies and foreign governments over the years,” the report states.
“Government procurement records show companies owned by Rep. Mills have been awarded numerous federal contracts. These contracts primarily consist of purchase orders stemming from the manufacture and delivery of less than lethal ammunitions — products manufactured by the Member-owned entities Pacem Defense, LLC, Pacem Solutions International, LLC and ALS, Inc. — to federal law enforcement agencies and the U.S. Department of Justice.”
Pacem Defense and Pacem Solutions are both companies Mills once owned or had majority stake in, but which now are run by his wife, Rana Al Saadi. As for ALS, the report points at a LinkedIn page that at one point connected that business to Pacem Defense, but Mills never included mention of it in his financial disclosures.
The report also said a deeper investigation should see if Mills left information off financial disclosures or if his campaign accepted excessive contributions in the form of personal loans, which federal law only allows to come from a congressional candidate’s personal funds. It points at Mills disclosing personal loans while he was running for Congress, when he loaned his campaign more than $1.8 million. Over the course of the campaign, Mills also amended reports to show a higher income from Pacem Solutions International.
Mills, for his part, said he will cooperate with any investigation, but characterized the allegations as politically motivated.
The committee in December announced its review of allegations based on a complaint filed by former Republican Primary challenger Michael Johnson, and he said the new report just repeats the same allegations.
“Ethics has not even taken up the complaint and is simply reviewing whether it has merit to even be looked at,” Mills said.
“I’m committed to complying with all laws and ethics rules and was pleased that the Federal Election Commission recently dismissed a complaint with similar allegations also filed by my former primary opponent. We trust the House Ethics Committee will come to a similar conclusion.”
The latest report was released with a standard statement from House Ethics Chair Michael Guest and ranking member Mark DeSaulnier that “the mere fact of conducting further review of a referral, and any mandatory disclosure of such further review, does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred, or reflect any judgment on behalf of the Committee.”
But the further investigation comes amid speculation that Mills may run for Senate next year in a GOP Primary challenge against U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody — and during an unrelated criminal investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department after a woman living at Mills’ Washington home called authorities and alleged physical assault.
Of note, the report does end any scrutiny of some allegations, recommending dismissal of allegations the political committee Cory Mills for Congress had accepted excessive in-kind contributions in the form of credit, or that he had accepted gifts in excess of House rules and limits.
Also, there was one vote by the board against further review of allegations Mills accepted personal loans.
The report was prepared not by the House committee but by the Office of Congressional Ethics, which Mills suggested had a history of bias.
“It’s also worth noting that OCE , which is notorious for being partisan, not affiliated with the Congressional Ethics Committee in the House,” he said.
But he must deal with the investigation as the same time he withers scrutiny over an ongoing criminal investigation by the Metropolitan Police Department. Last month, Iranian American activist Sarah Raviani, co-founder of Iranians for Trump, reported an assault at a Washington apartment complex where both live. Mills has denied allegations.
Meanwhile, Mills has expressed a desire to run for U.S. Senate next year, which would potentially mean a primary challenge against Republican U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody.
The Florida House of Representatives unanimously passed a measure Thursday that would ensure newborn babies can be safely surrendered to authorities.
Eustis Republican Rep. Nan Cobb presented the bill (HB 791) to establish and regulate the use of newborn safety devices installed in the walls of hospitals, fire stations, and emergency medical services (EMS) stations.
Similar legislation was introduced during the 2023 Legislative Session; however, the bill never made it out of Committee.
Cobb’s bill aims to provide a safe and anonymous way for parents to surrender their newborn baby, defined in the bill as under 30 days old, without the fear of legal repercussions as long as there is no abuse or neglect suspected.
The proposed devices would be temperature-controlled, ventilated, and physically attached to the outside wall of a hospital EMS station or fire station. Alarm systems must also be installed to ensure that staff know when a baby has been placed in the safety device.
During the bill’s passage through the House Health and Human Services Committee, Cobb detailed some of the statistics surrounding the abandonment of newborn infants.
“In 2000, Florida enacted the Safe Haven legislation in response to tragedies concerning newborn abandonment at unsafe locations such as public restrooms, and trash recepticals,” Cobb told the Committee. “Since 2000, approximately 414 newborns have surrendered at a Safe Haven in Florida. In that time, 65 infants are known to have been unsafely abandoned, of which 32 survived and unfortunately 33 did not.”
While the bill was being presented to the House, Tampa Democratic Rep. Dianne Hart commended Cobb for bringing it to the floor and said Cobb had addressed previous concerns about the device’s alarms once a baby was placed in it.
“Representative, I want to applaud you for bringing this back,” Hart said. “I know that we had some problems in the past where people thought, well, if you put the baby in a box, nobody will know the baby’s there, but the way that you have structured this bill, immediately someone will be notified. There’s nothing like caring for our babies, and I greatly appreciate you taking this under your wing this year and bringing it back.”
Surveillance systems would also be required to allow employees to monitor the device 24 hours a day, and staff would be required to check the device physically at least twice daily.
The legislation will now move to the Senate floor.
St. Pete City Council voted to approve $22.5 million to replace the iconic domed roof on Tropicana Field after it was destroyed by high winds from Hurricane Milton in October.
Replacing the roof has been a source of contention throughout the city as the future of Major League Baseball in St. Petersburg — or even perhaps the Tampa Bay region — remains in peril. The Rays are contractually obligated to play at Tropicana Field through the 2027 season, and as the team’s landlord, the city is required to fix the stadium.
While the vote may come as a frustration to some — including City Council member Richie Floyd, who voted against the expenditure because he wanted to see numbers worked up on how much it would cost to buy the Rays out of their remaining contract — the approved expenditure is about half the original estimated cost to fix the roof, estimated at nearly $56 million in November.
In response to Floyd’s concern about buying the Rays out of their remaining contract, City Administrator Rob Gerdes said it was considered, but doing so would have cost the city insurance reimbursements and Federal Emergency Management Agency aid, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
The vote paves the way for the Rays to return to Tropicana Field for the 2026 season, after they play this season in Tampa at Steinbrenner Field.
A report sent to St. Pete City Council in November outlined needed repairs and estimates to complete them, including $24 million to replace the roof. In all, the estimate came to $39 million in damages to the stadium, with another $16 million in other related needs.
The price tag is particularly stinging considering a calculated risk the city took last March, reducing its insurance coverage on Tropicana Field from $100 million to just $25 million. The move saved the city $275,000 on insurance premiums. The policy also has a $22 million deductible.
And it comes less than a month after Rays leadership announced it would not move forward with a previously approved stadium deal.
The team blamed “a series of events beginning in October” for its “difficult decision.” That’s in reference to Hurricane Milton and its damage to the stadium, which led to approval delays for bonds necessary to move forward with the deal.
The team has said those bond approval delays caused cost overruns and blamed the city of St. Pete and Pinellas County for hitches in what had seemed like a done deal.
Rays Principal owner Stuart Sternberg said at the time that the team was “excited to return to our home field next spring,” pointing to the city’s efforts to move forward with stadium repairs.
The latest also comes as investors are lining up to buy the Rays amid frustration with current ownership.
Tampa businessman Joe Molloy, who is a former minority owner of the New York Yankees, is heading a group of prospective Tampa-based investors seeking to buy the Rays. They would keep the team in St. Pete under the existing stadium deal, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
House passes bill to allow the safe surrender of newborn infants
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