Santos Survives Expulsion Vote in House
WASHINGTON — Embattled Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., survived a floor vote to expel him from Congress on Wednesday, but his legal and political troubles are far from over.
In the next two weeks, the House Ethics Committee is expected to release its findings from an investigation of his alleged misconduct, an inquiry that itself could lead to another vote on expulsion.
Then there’s his looming, September 2024 trial in New York on 23 federal criminal charges.
But Santos nevertheless took something of a victory lap Wednesday afternoon, telling reporters at the Capitol that he will continue to serve the voters of New York’s 3rd Congressional District, “until the people choose not to have me.”
Wednesday’s vote on Santos’ removal was actually the second such vote the House has held.
In May, the chamber voted to refer an expulsion resolution led by Democrats to the Ethics Committee, which had already begun its inquiry into the congressman’s alleged malfeasance and fabrications.
What made this week’s vote different — and particularly noteworthy — is that the effort to remove Santos was led by a group of his fellow first-term New York Republicans.
Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, R-N.Y., led the expulsion effort against Santos, notifying the House that he was bringing the resolution to the House floor just a day after it selected Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., to be its speaker.
In doing so, D’Esposito argued Santos was unfit to be a member of Congress due to his many fabrications about his life and career, his filing false financial disclosure reports with the House and for numerous criminal charges he faces.
D’Esposito was joined in his effort by Reps. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., and Mike Lawler, R-N.Y.
Despite the fact he filed his motion as a privileged resolution, meaning the speaker had to schedule a vote within two days while the House was in session, D’Esposito knew he faced long odds.
Resolutions aimed at expelling a member of the House require a two-thirds vote in their favor — a high bar in any Congress, but particularly so in one as divided as this one.
Ahead of the vote, LaLota told his colleagues that Santos’ lies were “more widespread than even the most untrustworthy politicians.”
“Santos lied about everything regarding his professional background, from his family’s wealth to working at Goldman Sachs and CitiGroup. Santos committed this fraud, this election fraud, to create an entirely new persona that voters could support,” he said.
Santos pushed back, arguing there was no constitutional precedent to expel him before he was actually convicted of any crime.
As evidence, he pointed to the cases of Rep. Michael Myers, D-Pa., in 1980, and James Traficant, D-Ohio, both of whom were expelled from Congress, but only after they were convicted.
Myers, one may remember, was one of four congressmen caught up in the so-called Abscam scandal after he was caught taking bribes in an FBI sting operation. Following his expulsion Myers spent three years in federal prison.
Traficant was expelled from the House after being convicted of 10 felony counts, including taking bribes, filing false tax returns, racketeering, and forcing his congressional staff to perform chores at his farm in Ohio and houseboat in Washington, D.C.
He was sentenced to prison and released on Sept. 2, 2009, after serving a seven-year sentence.
Among those in Santos’ corner was Johnson, who told Sean Hannity during a Fox News interview last week that he did not support the expulsion efforts because Santos hasn’t been convicted.
“He’s not convicted. He’s charged,” Johnson told Hannity. “And so if we’re going to expel people from Congress, just because they’re charged with a crime or accused, that’s a problem.”
On the floor of the House on Wednesday, D’Esposito said Santos’ arguments just didn’t hold water.
“Constitutional due process does not apply here,” D’Esposito said. “We have the facts. They have been outlined over the last 10 months. And the facts are that Mr. Santos admitted to those lies and deceptions.”
He also went on to say that a large majority of Santos’ constituents (some 78%, according to a recent poll) did not want him to be their representative.
In the end, the vote on the resolution was 213-179, with 19 votes counted as present. Twenty-four Republicans voted to expel Santos, while 182 voted for him to remain.
One hundred and fifty-five Democrats voted to expel Santos, while 31 voted for him to stay.
Afterwards, D’Esposito said he believed the announcement from the Ethics Committee earlier in the day caused a number of lawmakers to vote against the resolution.
In addition to saying it would reveal its “next course of action” on or before Nov. 17, the House panel revealed that over the course of its investigation into Santos, it has talked to roughly 40 witnesses, reviewed more than 170,000 pages of documents, and authorized 37 subpoenas.
“There’s no question that the memo that they put out definitely gave some of our colleagues the ability to say let’s hold off for the two weeks and see where the report leads us, which is fine,” D’Esposito told reporters.
He added: “I believe George Santos’ lies coupled with the criminal charges he is facing deem Santos unfit to serve the people of New York’s 3rd Congressional District. I am confident the findings of the upcoming House Ethics Committee report on George Santos will expose Santos’ deceptions and outline what New Yorkers already know — that George Santos is a fraud unworthy of serving in public office.”
As for Santos’ ongoing legal woes, the congressman pleaded not guilty last week to an updated indictment in which prosecutors say he filed fraudulent fundraising reports, repeatedly charged donors’ credit cards without their permission, and defrauded supporters by having them give money to a company under the guise that it would go to his campaign.
The indictment also includes 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 his 2022 campaign are facing legal problems of their own.
Nancy Marks, Santos’ former campaign treasurer, entered a guilty plea Oct. 5 to a federal conspiracy charge related to the 2022 campaign.
Samuel Miele, a former 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.
In the meantime, candidates are still lining up in Santos’ district to try to bring him down via the ballot box.
The latest to jump into the race is former Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., who wants his old seat back.
Suozzi was expected to be easily reelected in the district in 2020, but opted instead for an ultimately failed bid for the New York state governorship.
“The madness in Washington, D.C., and the absurdity of George Santos remaining in the United States Congress is obvious to everyone,” Suozzi said in a statement announcing his candidacy.
Shortly afterwards, he was endorsed by the New York State and City Buildings and Construction Trades Council, and that was followed in Washington by an endorsement from the New Democrat Coalition Action Fund.
“I’m thrilled to support my friend and fellow NewDem Tom Suozzi in his campaign for New York’s 3rd Congressional District,” said Rep. Annie Kuster, D-N.H., chair of the New Democrat Coalition, of which the Action Fund is a campaign fund. “More than ever, we need his pragmatic approach to politics in Congress.
“For the last year, George Santos has failed to represent New Yorkers on every level. Tom will once again restore true representation in Congress to the people of Long Island. He has the experience, determination, and skill set necessary to run and win this critical race, and we are proud to endorse him,” Kuster said.
Suozzi responded by acknowledging he has a tough campaign ahead — at least 30 others are either candidates or exploring a candidacy in the district — and said the early and immediate support he’s received has been encouraging.
“NewDems and I are aligned on their mission statement that NewDems are a solutions-oriented coalition seeking to bridge the gap between left and right by challenging outmoded partisan approaches to governing. The challenges ahead are too great for Congress to refuse to work with each other purely out of partisanship or showmanship,” Suozzi said.
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