Embattled Central Florida Congressman Cory Mills is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, according to reports from MS Now and ABC News.
The focus of the probe is unclear, though a source told MS Now that the FBI contacted at least one person last year about the Republican Congressman’s finances, allegations of misconduct and “individuals in his orbit.”
In a phone call with MS Now, Mills said he didn’t know anything about the justice department investigation, telling a reporter, “This is the first I’m hearing about it.”
Later Mills posted on X to decry the reports of a DOJ investigation as “a desperate lie” pushed by political opponents and the news media. He reiterated he wasn’t aware of any such probe and said he would “would fully cooperate” if there were one.
“I have nothing to hide,” he wrote.
On Thursday, he told The Floridian, an online political publication, that he had not been approached by either the justice department or the FBI and, given the upcoming August primary, thought the accusation “is more about political propagandized lawfare than it is actual facts.”
Mills, who is running for re-election this year to represent the Congressional District 7, which includes all of Seminole County and the southern half of Volusia County, was already the subject of a House ethics investigation and has been accused of misrepresenting his military record, engaging in unethical business dealings, assaulting a girlfriend and stalking an ex-girlfriend. Colleagues from both sides of the aisle have called on the congressman to resign. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Mills, who is seeking his third term in Congress, also told MS Now the justice department probe shouldn’t be related to potential campaign finance violations because the Federal Election Commission already dropped an investigation into him on that subject.
Later Mills posted on X about the reports of a justice department investigation, decrying them as “a desperate lie” pushed by political opponents and the news media. He reiterated he wasn’t aware of any such probe and said he would “would fully cooperate” if there were one.
“I have nothing to hide,” he wrote.
One of his three Republican opponents in the Aug. 18 primary, Ryan Elijah, called for the two-term congressman to drop out of the race on Wednesday.
“The new DOJ investigation, along with the House Ethics Committee investigation, makes it impossible for him to deliver for the people of Seminole and Volusia counties,” Elijah wrote on X.
anmartin@orlandosentinel.com