New York Republican Rep George Santos is facing a new motion to expel him from the House after the chamber’s Ethics Committee issued a damning report into the actions of the freshman congressman.
The report found that the 35-year-old had violated ethics guidelines, the rules of the House, and criminal laws, and that he had been aware that he was crossing the line.
House Ethics panel chairman GOP Rep Michael Guest of Mississippi filed the motion on Friday. The chamber can take up the motion on 28 November upon lawmakers’ return from Thanksgiving recess.
In a long post on X on Thursday night, Mr Santos lashed out, claiming that he had gone through a “year from hell” and that he had been the victim of “dirty” politics and of the “poison” coming from the ethics panel.
In a statement, Mr Guest said: “The evidence uncovered in the Ethics Committee’s Investigative Subcommittee investigation is more than sufficient to warrant punishment and the most appropriate punishment, is expulsion. So, separate from the Committee process and my role as Chairman, I have filed an expulsion resolution.”
Part of the motion to expel states: “Santos must be held accountable to the highest standards of conduct in order to safeguard the public’s faith in this institution.”
The House Ethics Committee said in a statement on Thursday that Mr Santos “knowingly caused his campaign committee to file false or incomplete reports with the Federal Election Commission; used campaign funds for personal purposes; engaged in fraudulent conduct in connection with RedStone Strategies LLC; and engaged in knowing and willful violations of the Ethics in Government Act as it relates to his Financial Disclosure (FD) Statements filed with the House”.
“In light of the ongoing criminal investigation into Representative Santos, and the ISC’s findings of additional uncharged and unlawful conduct by Representative Santos, the ISC recommended that the Committee immediately refer these allegations to the Department of Justice,” the panel added.
If he’s removed from the House, Mr Santos would become only the sixth lawmaker to be booted from the lower chamber and the first to be removed without having been convicted of criminal offences or facing accusations of having been disloyal to the US.
His removal would also mean that the already tight GOP House majority would shrink by one member and his ouster would trigger a special election in the third congressional district in New York, which covers parts of Queens and Long Island.
A number of Republicans have said they would back his removal from the House.
GOP North Carolina Rep Jeff Jackson said in a statement: that Mr Santos “has received his due process. This report is fully damning. I will vote to expel him”.
Mr Santos slammed the panel on X, writing: “If there was a single ounce of ETHICS in the ‘Ethics committee’, they would have not released this biased report. The Committee went to extraordinary lengths to smear myself and my legal team about me not being forthcoming (My legal bills suggest otherwise).”
“It is a disgusting politicized smear that shows the depths of how low our federal government has sunk. Everyone who participated in this grave miscarriage of Justice should all be ashamed of themselves,” he added.
“All this Congress wants to do is attack their political enemies with tit for tat unconstitutional censures, impeachments, expulsions and ethics investigations,” Mr Santos wrote. “THE TIME IS NOW FOR THE STATES TO RISE UP AND COMMENCE AN ARTICLE V CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION! I’ve come to expect vitriol like this from political opposition but not from the hallowed halls of public service.”
The motion to expel would require two-thirds of the House to back it.
