Embattled Rep. George Santos will face a vote to expel him from the House next week in a push from his Republican colleagues in the New York delegation over his federal criminal indictments.
Rep. Anthony D’Esposito notified the House on Thursday of his intent to offer a privileged resolution to expel Santos, just a day into the House functioning again after Republicans selected Speaker Mike Johnson. That means Johnson must call for a vote within two legislative days.
Also Thursday, dueling censure resolutions were announced against Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., setting up votes on those next week as well.
D’Esposito said the resolution calls Santos to task for lying about his employment, filing false financial disclosure reports with the House and for the numerous criminal charges Santos faces. It requires a two-thirds vote to expel a member from Congress, a high threshold.
“As a result of these actions, George Santos is not fit to serve his constituents as a United States representative,” D’Esposito said on the floor. Other New York Republicans sat behind D’Esposito as he read the resolution, including Rep. Marc Molinaro.
Molinaro said he plans to vote for the measure when it comes to the floor.
“George Santos should not be a member of Congress. He should have resigned. We’ve seen a cascade of indictments, more criminal activity,” Molinaro said. “He basically has admitted to being a fraud. And if that resolution comes the floor, I’ll vote for it.”
Republicans voted in May to send a Democrat-backed effort to oust Santos to the House Ethics Committee, on a 221-204 party-line vote on the resolution.
Santos has been under investigation, including from the House Ethics Committee, since shortly after entering Congress. The New York Republicans announced their intention to introduce the Santos resolution two weeks ago, after a superseding indictment added additional criminal charges against him.
Santos, when asked Wednesday about the expulsion resolution, said: “OK, that’s fine. No, I don’t care if they’re whipping it, that’s fine. Due process is over,” Santos said.
Only five House lawmakers have been purged from the chamber by their colleagues, the most recent being former Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio, who was kicked out for his conviction on corruption charges.
Prosecutors say Santos filed fraudulent fundraising reports, repeatedly charged donors’ credit cards without their permission, defrauded supporters by having them give money to a company under the guise that it would go to his campaign, when Santos spent thousands of those dollars on luxury designer clothes and other personal expenses.
The 23 criminal counts also include a charge that he fraudulently obtained more than $24,000 in unemployment benefits and lied on his House financial disclosure statements.
Two people tied to Santos’ campaign for office are also in legal trouble. Nancy Marks, a former campaign treasurer, entered a guilty plea Oct. 5 to a federal conspiracy charge related to the 2022 campaign. Samuel Miele, an-ex fundraiser for Santos’ campaign, was indicted in August on federal charges that he impersonated a high-ranking House leadership aide while attempting to entice donors.
Censure pushes
Also on Thursday, Greene introduced a resolution to censure Tlaib for what she described as “antisemitic activity, sympathizing with terrorist organizations, and leading an insurrection at the United States Capitol Complex.”
Greene falsely asserts that Tlaib, a supporter of Palestinian rights, led an insurrection, referring to a peaceful protest last week calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. That protest resulted in over 300 arrests.
Later in the day, Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., offered a resolution to censure Greene for actions she said “fanned the flames of racism, antisemitism, hate speech against the LGBTQ community, Islamophobia, Asian hate, xenophobia and other forms of hatred,” she said also mentioning conspiracy theories Greene promulgated on 9/11, among others.
Those censure resolutions, which require a simple majority vote, are privileged and take precedence when the House returns next week.
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