Republican U.S. Rep. George Santos on Friday confronted new efforts to expel him from Congress, a day after fellow lawmakers launched a report suggesting federal prosecutors ought to convey further legal costs towards him.
Home Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Visitor launched the invoice concentrating on the first-term New York lawmaker, who’s now often known as a superstitious and criminally charged politician.
Santos has been embroiled in scandal since his election in 2022, after it was revealed that he lied on a number of earlier federal fraud costs.
Santos, 35, beforehand pleaded not responsible to federal costs of laundering marketing campaign funds to pay for private bills and charging donors’ bank cards with out authorization, amongst different marketing campaign finance violations.
Visitor, a Republican, issued a press release Friday saying partially: “The proof uncovered within the Ethics Fee’s investigative subcommittee investigation is greater than adequate to justify punishment and essentially the most applicable punishment is expulsion.” So, outdoors of the committee course of and my function as chair, I filed an expulsion decision.
The decision additionally features a word that: “Santos should be held accountable to the very best requirements of conduct to be able to preserve public confidence on this establishment.”
The Home of Representatives, which is managed by Republicans by a slender 221-213 majority, is anticipated to vote on the expulsion effort when it returns from a two-week recess, on November 28. Santos’ workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Regardless of the slender margin within the Home of Representatives, Santos is unlikely to obtain help from Republican Home Speaker Mike Johnson, who described the report’s findings as “deeply troubling,” based on a press release by his spokesman, Raj Shah.
“Speaker Johnson encourages all involved to think about the perfect pursuits of the establishment as this matter is addressed additional,” Shah stated.
Santos, which features a small slice of New York Metropolis and a few of its jap suburbs, is seen as aggressive.
The bipartisan Ethics Fee on Thursday launched a report on Santos’ alleged marketing campaign monetary fraud, which documented a sample of poor bookkeeping and misuse of marketing campaign funds so widespread that his election “introduced into query the integrity of the Home of Representatives.” Santos stated Thursday that he is not going to run for re-election in 2024, however has refused to step down earlier than then.
The Ethics Fee stated it referred additional “illegal and illegal conduct” to the Division of Justice for attainable legal prosecution.
The report additionally detailed lavish – and probably unlawful – spending of marketing campaign funds, together with 1000’s of {dollars} on Botox therapies, luxurious manufacturers like Hermès, and “micro-purchases” from OnlyFans, an internet platform identified for its sexual content material.
The expulsion proposal requires two-thirds help within the Home of Representatives. Final time, 182 Republicans voted towards expulsion as a result of they wanted Santos’ seat to guard their slender Home majority, and that consequence is anticipated to be much less favorable for Santos subsequent time.
Reuters contributed reporting