The House on Friday overwhelmingly voted to expel Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., even as GOP leaders supported him staying in office. The House voted 311-114 with two members voting present to make Santos just the sixth member in the chamber’s history to be ousted by colleagues. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., voted against the expulsion as did more than 110 other Republicans, many of whom argued that Santos had not been convicted.
Santos was indicted in May on 23 federal counts accusing him of defrauding donors, stealing from his campaign and lying to Congress. Santos pleaded not guilty to all counts. The House Ethics Committee last month released a report detailing “overwhelming evidence” of lawbreaking by the Congressman, including numerous campaign finances violations.
The vote came shortly after Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, accused Santos’ campaign of stealing from his mom. “Earlier this year I learned that the Santos campaign had charged my personal credit card — and the personal card of my Mother — for contribution amounts that exceeded the FEC limits,” he wrote in an email to Republican colleagues. “Neither my Mother nor I approved these charges or were aware of them. We have spent tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees in the resulting followup. I’ve seen a list of roughly 400 other people to whom the Santos campaign allegedly did this. I believe some other members of this conference might have had the same experience.”
