Ethics report details allegations Cory Mills held contracts with federal agencies after election to Congress

Cory Mills claims alleged domestic incident and divorce are politicized and denies abuse allegations by Sarah Raviani.

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.