Politics

MAGA Rep Makes Bonkers Claim About Why He Missed $80K in Rent on Luxury Penthouse

ELEVATOR EVASION

Florida firebrand Cory Mills says “Error Code 108” ate the rent at his D.C. apartment with a “discrete” elevator—while his landlord wants him and his boxes packed by fall.

US Representative Cory Mills, Republican of Florida.
MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

The advert for the luxury sky-high Washington D.C. apartment rented by Congressman Cory Mills boasts: “EXPERIENCE PRIVACY LIKE NEVER BEFORE… Residences in the Penthouse levels offer access through private elevators for discrete comings and goings.”

Which may have proved handy for MAGA firebrand Rep. Cory Mills, who has avoided his landlord while racking up $80,009 in missed payments—and now faces eviction.

1331 Maryland Avenue
Rep. Cory Mills rents a penthouse apartment in this building—but maybe not for much longer after missing rent payments 18 times. Google Maps

Bozzuto Management’s lawsuit, filed July 9 in D.C. Superior Court, alleges the Florida Republican skipped four $20,833-a-month payments and asks a judge to boot him or funnel future checks into escrow, as first reported on X by former Daily Beast journalist Roger Sollenberger. A remote eviction hearing is set for Sept. 8.

Apartment
The living room of a penthouse apartment in the same building, similar to the one Cory Mills has failed to pay tens of thousands of dollars in rent for. ThrDailyBeast/promo

While that private elevator would be handy for dodging process servers, Mills insists he’s the real victim, claiming cyberspace ate his money. Every attempt to pay detonated, he says, with a mysterious “Error 108.”

Apartment
A plush bedroom of a penthouse apartment in the same building Cory Mills has been renting. TheDailyBeast/promo

In a fiery X post, Mills griped to Sollenberger: “I know facts are unusual and unfamiliar thing for you, but here’s just the past two months where you can see I’m repeatedly asking for payment links… it failed to process.”

Bozzuto’s ledger tells a less technical tale: Mills has rung up 18 late-fee hits and was warned in January—when he already owed $18,000—that legal action was coming if he didn’t square up, according to Florida Politics.

But rent drama is only the newest item in an ever-growing roll-call of shame for the Donald Trump supporter, who is in his second term.

Cory Mills
US Representative Cory Mills, Republican from Florida, grimaces as he testifies during a hearing of the House Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, September 26, 2024. He is likely grimacing again as he faces eviction for missed rent payments. MANDEL NGAN/Mandel NGAN/AFP

The same apartment was where, back in February, Mills’ 27-year-old girlfriend accused him of shoving her, before later calling it a “misunderstanding,” as the pro-Trump U.S. attorney’s office let the paperwork die. Mills denies any wrongdoing.

March brought a House Ethics Committee investigation into nearly $1 million in federal weapons contracts his own company landed once he was sworn in—an arrangement the panel says may violate conflict-of-interest rules.

Cory Mills
US Representative Cory Mills, Republican of Florida, speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) meeting on February 23, 2024, in National Harbor, Maryland. He has been accused of missing tens of thousands in rent payments. MANDEL NGAN/Mandel NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

And in May, five Iraq-war comrades came forward to say they don’t recall the heroics behind Mills’ 2003 Bronze Star. The congressman retorted that commanders, not soldiers, write award citations.

The Daily Beast has contacted Mills for comment.

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