WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House of Representatives debated whether New York Republican Representative George Santos should stay in congress. This follows a report from the House Ethics Committee alleging the freshman Representative has violated federal law.
Soon after Santos won his election in November 2022, he has been dealing with scandal after scandal. In the court system, he has pleaded not guilty to 23 federal indictments that alleges he stole the identities of campaign donors and then used their credit cards to spend tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges. Most recently, the House ethics Committee released a report on him saying they found a lot of evidence that he violated federal law. The report accuses Santos of using his campaign funds on things like Botox, hotels and OnlyFans purchases, just to name a few.
Santos has refused to resign. Before the floor debate, Santos said if he is expelled, it would set a bad precedent.
“On what basis does this body feel that precedent must be changed for me,” asked Rep. Santos on the House floor. “An American citizen duly elected, elected to represent the third district of New York. I have been convicted of no crimes, Mr. Speaker.”
Members who spoke in favor of expelling Santos said he needs to go.
“George Santos has continuously said he has not received his due process; I asked my colleagues if we do not take the Ethics Committee and their results seriously then why even have the committee in the first place,” asked Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R- NY) on the House floor.
We expect the House to vote on this on Friday. Santos has survived previous attempts to expel him. If Santos is expelled, he would be the sixth member to be expelled in the history of the House. Three were during the Civil War for disloyalty to the Union. The other two were after convictions on federal charges.
