Florida Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick resigns amid ethics investigation, and state Attorney General James Uthmeier takes on ChatGPT. 

Democratic Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida resigned on Tuesday before the House could sanction her in an ethics investigation.

Members of the House Ethics Committee on Tuesday were set to weigh what punishment to recommend after they found she committed 25 violations of House rules and ethical standards, including breaking campaign finance laws.

“This was not a fair process,” she said in a statement, adding that the committee denied her adequate time to prepare a defense.

Republicans had already called for the expulsion of Cherfilus-McCormick, who is in her third term and is running for reelection in a southeastern Florida district. She is also facing federal criminal charges accusing her of stealing $5 million in coronavirus disaster relief funds and using the money to buy items such as a 3-carat yellow diamond ring.

Cherfilus-McCormick has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges and says she is not guilty of ethics violations, either.

The allegations against the congresswoman center on how she received millions of dollars from her family’s health care business after Florida mistakenly overpaid the business by roughly $5 million with COVID-19 disaster relief funds. She is accused of using that money to fund her 2022 congressional campaign through a network of businesses and family members.

Cherfilus-McCormick declined to testify during a previous Ethics Committee hearing, citing her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Her attorney, William Barzee, sparred with some of the lawmakers and argued that they should have allowed a thorough ethics trial, at which he could present witnesses and evidence to counter the conclusions of House investigators.

Moments after Cherfilus-McCormick submitted her resignation, House Ethics Committee Chair Michael Guest, R-Miss., said the committee no longer had jurisdiction to conduct the hearing.

He thanked the committee’s staff for “2½ years of hard work in this matter,” adding that they had spoken to multiple witnesses and gathered and reviewed tens of thousands of documents.

Uthmeier opens criminal investigation into OpenAI

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Tuesday that has opened a criminal investigation into OpenAI.

That’s in part because of last year’s mass shooting at Florida State University.

Uthmeier said the suspect in that shooting used ChatGPT to help him plan out the attack, including allegedly providing information on which guns to use. The AI chatbot is also alleged to have helped the suspect learn when and where he would encounter the biggest crowds on campus.

Uthmeier says if Chat GPT were a person, it would be facing murder charges.

“Florida is leading the way in cracking down on AI’s use in criminal behavior, and if ChatGPT were a person, it would be facing charges for murder,” Uthmeier said. “This criminal investigation will determine whether OpenAI bears criminal responsibility for ChatGPT’s actions in the shooting at Florida State University last year.” 

According to the press release, the attorney general subpoenaed OpenAI for the following information: 

Beginning March 1, 2024, through April 17, 2026:
    •  All policies and internal training materials regarding user threats of harm to others.
    •  All policies and internal training materials regarding user threats of harm to self.
    •  All policies and internal training materials regarding cooperation with law enforcement, including policies for the reporting of possible past, present, or future crime.
    •  If multiple policies were in place during this time period and changed, all policies and dates of change. 
 
For the dates of March 1, 2024, October 1, 2024, and April 17, 2025:
    •  Organizational Chart listing executives, directors, department heads, and/or senior managers of OpenAI.
    •  A listing of all employees, including affiliated departments and titles or role description(s), within ChatGPT.

Relating to the FSU Shooting on April 17, 2025:
    •  Any and all media publicly released.
    •  Any and all publicly released statements, including but not limited to, press releases and media interviews.