The weeks-long feud between Republican Representatives Nancy Mace of South Carolina and Cory Mills of Florida boiled over during a hearing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
Mace Accuses Mills of Stolen Valor
Mace, who has filed a resolution to expel Mills from Congress, scorched her colleague by entering evidence into the congressional record that she claims proves he has lied about his military service.
'I request unanimous consent to enter a number of documents into the record,' she said, opening her remarks at a hearing on the military budget with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. 'The first is a statement from Cory Mills's first sergeant, attesting that his records of military service are falsified.'
Accusing Mills of 'stolen valor', Mace added: 'An individual who steals the stories of dead or injured soldiers has no right to serve in this body, let alone on this committee.'
The South Carolina Congresswoman also presented evidence of Mills' wedding being officiated by an Imam with ties to 9/11, and his previous accusations of sexual misconduct.
In a 2025 police report, Mills was accused by his then-girlfriend of grabbing her, shoving her, and pushing her out of the door of his apartment. Mills has denied the accusation, saying the woman's original allegation was 'patently false.'
Mills Fires Back
During his own line of questioning later in the hearing, Mills entered his own evidence into the record that he believes disproves Mace's claims and proves his innocence despite Mace's accusations.
Mills pointed to his 'military service documents, including [his] DD-214 and verified awards, because the truth matters.'
Turning to Hegseth, Mills noted, 'you're pretty familiar with the ideas of slander, defamation, and attack on character, so I apologize for having to take that moment to be able to go ahead to correct the record.'
Expulsion Efforts and Ethics Investigation
Despite filing a resolution to expel Mills from the House, Mace has not asked for it to be put up for a vote.
The bipartisan House Ethics Committee has formed a subcommittee to investigate a wide range of claims against Mills, and the inquiry remains ongoing.
'I don't belong in the same category as Swalwell and his allies,' Mills told NewsNation earlier this month, referencing former California Congressman Eric Swalwell. 'I'm not married, for one thing. I've never sexually harassed anyone or faced complaints from staffers or interns. It's just not a fair comparison.' He dismissed the scrutiny as 'obviously a political, Democratic tit-for-tat.'
Broader Context of Congressional Scandals
Swalwell announced he was suspending his campaign earlier this month amid a wave of sexual assault accusations, saying he was 'deeply sorry for mistakes in judgment I've made in my past', while denouncing what he called 'false allegations.'
Republican Tony Gonzales of Texas abandoned his congressional re-election bid last month under pressure over an admitted affair with a subordinate who later killed herself. Both men were pushed out by leaders within their own parties.
Mills faces his own catalog of allegations: misusing campaign funds for private jets, eviction from his Washington DC apartment, 'assaulting women, profiting off federal contracts, and inflating [his] military record.'
Mace, a South Carolina congresswoman currently running for governor, posted on X earlier this month calling for 'house cleaning', demanding that Gonzales, Mills, Swalwell and former Congresswoman Cherfilus-McCormick 'resign immediately.' Swalwell, Gonzales, and Cherfilus-McCormick have since done so. Mills has maintained his innocence. Any discussion of further resignations also weighs the slim GOP majority, which widened slightly after the three aforementioned resignations.
The chaos around Mills also deepened this month when his longtime Chief of Staff and General Counsel, Catherine Treadwell, resigned, her farewell email carrying the stark line: 'The horrors persist, but I do not.'
Mills has since filed a resolution to expel Mace from the House. Only six members have ever been expelled in US history - the most recent being New York Republican George Santos in 2023.
