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Rep. George Santos survives second ouster attempt. This time from his GOP colleagues.
By
Brigid Bergin
Published Nov 1, 2023
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Drew Angerer/Getty Images
By
Brigid Bergin
Published Nov 1, 2023
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Rep. George Santos survived a second attempt to oust him from Congress.
The Republican-led effort to expel Santos from the chamber was voted down late Wednesday in a 213 to 179 vote, largely down party lines. The vote came a week after some of Santos’ GOP colleagues from New York introduced a resolution to boot the embattled Long Island Republican from the chamber.
The latest effort comes as Santos is facing 23 campaign-related fraud charges, including conspiracy, money laundering, wire fraud, credit card fraud, identity theft, stealing public benefits and filing false statements with Congress and the Federal Election Commission, and as news that a bipartisan House Ethics subcommittee formed to investigate Santos said in a statement Tuesday that they expect to announce the next steps of their inquiry on or before Nov. 17.
Two dozen Republicans crossed party lines to vote in favor of expelling Santos from the chamber. Meanwhile, 31 Democrats sided with Republicans in voting down the measure, which needed a two-thirds vote to pass. An additional 19 members voted that they were present.
The freshman lawmaker responded to the vote on social media Wednesday.
A screenshot of a now deleted tweet from Rep. George Santos
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Members debated the resolution on Wednesday afternoon led by Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, who introduced the measure to boot Santos from the House last week alongside several of his Republican colleagues from New York that represent districts President Joe Biden won in 2020.
D’Esposito said Santos is “a stain on this institution and not fit to serve his constituents in the House of Representatives.”
D’Esposito was joined by fellow Long Island Republican Rep. Nick LaLota, a co-sponsor of the expulsion resolution, who said the constituents of the third congressional district deserved someone who could actually accomplish something, unlike Santos.
“That is because their representative is incapable of getting a bill passed, a project funded or even sitting on a committee because he lacks the minimum amount of trust necessary of a member of Congress,” LaLota said.
Republican Rep. Mike Lawler and Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman — both of whom are freshman members from New York — also spoke in favor of the expulsion, while lobbing political barbs at each other.
On the House floor, Santos said he was fighting to clear his name, attacking his Republican colleagues for attempting to act as, “as judge, jury and executioner.”
Santos warned his colleagues that expelling him would set a dangerous precedent, trumpetted his conservative voting record, called out Democrats for supporting other members facing criminal charges — alluding to New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, who is under his second criminal indictment for corruption charges, and Rep. Jamal Bowman, who recently pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for pulling a fire alarm in the House office building.
Santos concluded his remarks by asking his colleagues to vote no on his expulsion.
“I hope that the House will understand the scope of this vote and have the courage to do what is right, not what is politically expedient,” said Santos. “I stand firmly in my innocence and my passion to represent the people of New York’s third district if the voters would continue to have me for it is their responsibility, and their responsibility alone. to elect or remove me from Congress.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson had warned that with Republicans razor-thin hold on the majority, they cannot risk losing any votes as the 2024 election looms large. In an interview with Fox News last week, Johnson argued that Santos was entitled to “due process.”
“He's not convicted. He's charged,” said Johnson. “And so if we're going to expel people from Congress just because they're charged with a crime, then — or accused — that's a problem.”
Republicans used the same logic in May when Democrats introduced a similar resolution to oust Santos after he was originally charged with 13 federal fraud charges. At the time, D’Esposito made the motion to send the resolution to the House Ethics committee, which launched a subcommittee back in March to investigate Santos.
The last member ousted from Congress was Democrat James Traficant of Ohio in 2002, who was convicted of federal corruption charges at the time of his nearly unanimous expulsion. Only one other member, Democrat Michael J. Myers of Pennsylvania in 1980, has been expelled in the modern political era. The only three others were expelled for crimes related to the Civil War, according to the Office of the Historian.
Santos — whose district includes parts of eastern Queens and Nassau County — acknowledged falsifying significant aspects of his biography, including his religion, career history, education, athletic pursuits, charity work, real estate portfolio and his connection to tragic historical events including the Holocaust, the Pulse Nightclub shooting and the September 11th terror attacks.
But he has twice entered not guilty pleas in federal court to all 23 criminal counts he faces.
Prosecutors allege Santos engaged in a series of schemes that defrauded his donors and misled his supporters. He is also accused of stealing the identity and credit card information of some of his supporters to inflate his campaign and personal bank accounts. He’s also accused of falsifying records to the Federal Election Commission related to his campaign fundraising and the financial disclosure forms he submitted to Congress about his personal wealth.
Santos’ trial is set to begin in September 2024, nearly a year away, setting the stage for a political maelstrom for other Republicans in New York and elsewhere, especially candidates in swing districts who could be sucked into an unseemly association with Santos and his corruption trial just weeks ahead of the general election.
Republican political consultant Mike DuHaime, the head of MAD global strategy who has previously worked as a senior political consultant for several high profile officials, said GOP members were smart to try to distance themselves politically from Santos.
“They're mostly in competitive districts and oftentimes, independent voters especially, will judge their elected officials by how they deal with the worst in their own party,” DuHaime said.
DuHaime said the move by the New York members helps to separate them from “D.C. Republicans” who may be more off-putting to local voters.
Still DuHaim acknowledged that Santos is a problem for the entire Republican party, especially if he is still in office when his corruption trial begins next September, just weeks before the general election.
“Best case scenario, he’s a distraction,” he said. “Worst case scenario, he’s a drag when Republicans want this to be a referendum on Joe Biden.”
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new york state
new york city
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Politics
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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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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