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Over the past few months, I’ve spoken to more than a dozen people who know Rep. Cory Mills, watched hours of court testimony, and reviewed hundreds of pages of public records to piece together the rise of a Florida Republican now plagued by numerous scandals. What I heard and saw was often shocking. To a degree I’ve never encountered as a reporter, the congressman turned out to be widely loathed, both in Washington and by former close associates.
Mills was first elected to Congress in 2022. In 2024, he easily won reelection. He’s now running again and, come November, voters in his solidly Republican district may send Mills to Washington for a third time.
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump gave him his “Complete and Total” endorsement. Trump called Mills a “Successful Entrepreneur” and “Bronze Star recipient.” My investigation—along with work by independent journalist Roger Sollenberger and Notus—calls into question the basis of both those claims.
Mills’ office did not respond to an interview request sent last month. His office also did not reply to a detailed list of questions sent by Mother Jones last week.
Below are five takeaways from the reporting.
Mills, who is 45, served in the Army from 1999 to 2003. He spent a few months of that time in Iraq. Adam Ehrhardt, a medic who once served directly under Mills, provided a damning assessment of his former noncommissioned officer. “I wouldn’t piss on him if he was on fire,” he told me of Mills.
Ehrhardt’s disdain is shared by many of the private military contractors who later worked with Mills in the Middle East for the company then known as DynCorp. Jesse Parks, a Navy veteran and retired cop, described Mills as a “grade A jackass.” Parks added: “He’s a schmuck bordering on being a douchebag.” (There are many other stories from former Mills associates in our larger piece.)
The political news outlet Notus reported last year that multiple Army veterans have accused Mills of obtaining a Bronze Star through stolen valor. I found further support that Mills falsely claimed to have saved the lives of multiple fellow soldiers, as well as substantial evidence that Mills has severely exaggerated his military credentials on numerous occasions.
Five people told me Mills claimed to have been an elite Army Ranger during a years-long period that spanned roles in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Washington, DC, area. Service records recently released on the Army’s Freedom of Information Act Library show no sign of Mills having been a Ranger. When I asked the Army whether Mills had ever attended Ranger training or been assigned to a Ranger regiment, an Army official said he only attended a special operations forces selection program in 2002. Mills did not complete the course, the official added.
Mills has also represented himself as a former JSOC member, an acronym for the group that oversees much of US special operations forces. “At no point in time was he ever certified or associated with any type of special operations, Rangers, or anything like that,” Ehrhardt told me. “Ever.”
Before running for Congress, Mills started an international arms distributor, often called Pacem Solutions. Court records I reviewed show that the company’s business relied heavily on selling high-explosive grenades to Middle Eastern governments. Those records also show that Pacem is now trapped under more than $66 million of debt as it battles foreclosure in Florida.
To make up for its losses, Pacem sued the Small Business Administration in 2023 to try to get millions of dollars of Covid-era relief funding that it had been denied after failing to repay millions in debt. A federal judge ruled against Pacem in the case, and an appeals court upheld the decision last year.
Late last year, Pacem indefinitely furloughed many of its workers in Florida. One of those workers told me he lost his livelihood shortly before Christmas. Mills, meanwhile, spent part of the holiday season attending a White House party with Trump featuring the Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli.
In 2023, members of Congress traveled to Ireland, partly to attend a Navy-Notre Dame football game. Two congressional sources I spoke to told me they’ve heard from multiple people that Mills punched someone under the influence of alcohol while in Ireland. One of the sources said they have heard that Mills “sucker punched” someone, then ran away like a “coward.”
Asked about Mills’ alleged conduct, a US Navy spokesperson referred questions to Mills’ office, which did not respond to an interview request or request for comment.
In early 2025, DC police responded to a 911 call reporting an alleged assault at Mills’ apartment. A police report stated that Mills “grabbed [his girlfriend], shoved her, and pushed her out of the door.” Soon after, Sarah Raviani, the then–27-year-old co-founder of Iranians for Trump who made the allegation, retracted her claims.
After the 911 call made headlines, Lindsey Langston, the girlfriend Mills shared a Florida home with, ended their relationship. Mills went on to send so many threatening messages to Langston that a Florida judge placed a restraining order on him in October.
