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Defiant Rep. George Santos doubles down against third ouster attempt
By
Brigid Bergin
Published Nov 30, 2023
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Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images
By
Brigid Bergin
Published Nov 30, 2023
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Embattled Rep. George Santos is warning his colleagues that they’re setting a dangerous precedent if they move to oust him.
Hours ahead of the expected debate over a third resolution to expel him from Congress, the freshman Republican held a combative press conference early Thursday outside the Capitol in Washington D.C., threatening to drag his fellow colleagues for what he described as hypocritical behavior.
The Queens and Long Island Republican, who faces 23 criminal charges, said he hasn’t been convicted of a crime and noted that he would join the legion of only five other House members in history who have been removed from the body.
“I will be number six in the history, the first Republican and the only one without a conviction or without being part of a war without having committed treason,” Santos told reporters.
Despite his 11-month career being marred by an ever growing list of mistruths about his personal and professional biography —along with an ongoing criminal indictment and a scathing report from a House ethics subcommittee that substantiated and added to the campaign finance and criminal violations he faces — Santos used his time with the media to make clear he was not resigning.
During the 20 minute appearance, he also issued several warnings to his colleagues about the retribution he plans to seek starting on Thursday.
One of his chief targets was Rep. Jamaal Bowman, a Democrat representing the Bronx and Westchester, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge after he was caught on camera pulling a fire alarm in a House office building. Santos said he planned to introduce a privileged resolution on Thursday to call for Bowman’s expulsion from the body, since he has been convicted of a crime.
“Had that been any other person, had that been one of the members of the media, had it been a Republican member of Congress, we all know that that person would have been charged with obstructing a congressional hearing, just like the somewhat 140 people sitting in prison right now because of January 6, but Jamaal Bowman gets a pass,” said Santos.
Bowman immediately issued a statement responding to Santos.
“No one in Congress, or anywhere in America, takes soon-to-be former Congressman George Santos seriously,” said Bowman. “This is just another meaningless stunt in his long history of cons, antics, and outright fraud.”
Democrats were not the only targets of Santos' ire. He also blasted Congress as a whole and said no matter what happens to him, he plans to make public “the chaos” that he has seen during his brief tenure.
“I got to see how the sausage is made from the inside. I got to see how this place operates,” said Santos. “I get to take that story back to the American people.”
Members are expected to debate a third resolution to expel Santos as soon as this afternoon with a vote expected this week.
Asked what he plans to do if he is removed from Congress, Santos was sanguine.
“Whatever I want,” he declared.
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Politics
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Brigid Bergin
Brigid Bergin is an award-winning senior reporter on the People and Power desk. She is fiercely committed to telling stories that help people engage and support democracy. In 2022, she hosted a live, ten-week call-in politics show ahead of the midterm elections called The People's Guide to Power. Brigid's reporting in 2017 included some of the first coverage of a political newcomer now known as AOC. In 2016, she broke the news of a voter purge in Brooklyn just days before New York’s presidential primary, triggering city, state and federal investigations. Brigid also guest hosts The Brian Lehrer Show and All Of It. She graduated from the University at Albany and the CUNY Newmark School of Journalism. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-723-4719.
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