Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) is facing a third attempt to be removed from his New York House seat following the Nov. 17 introduction of a motion to remove him from office by a fellow House Republican.
Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest (R-Miss.) introduced the motion following the release of his panel’s report revealing evidence the freshman congressman engaged in illegal conduct considered beneath the dignity of Congress.
Guest filed the request on Nov. 17, referencing the “substantial evidence” from the ethics probe that Mr. Santos willfully violated the law and misappropriated campaign funds while campaigning for Congress last year.
“Given the intense public scrutiny surrounding Rep. Santos and the ongoing activity at the DOJ, including indictments, the Ethics Committee decided to finish its work without going through a lengthier process that provides for the committee to make a recommendation of punishment to the House.
“The evidence uncovered in the Ethics Committee’s Investigative Subcommittee investigation is more than sufficient to warrant punishment, and the most appropriate punishment is expulsion.
“So, separate from the committee process and my role as chairman, I have filed an expulsion resolution.”
This comes just a day after a bipartisan ethics committee report was released asserting that Mr. Santos deliberately violated a number of criminal and ethical statutes.
The lawmaker has been charged with multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy to commit crimes against the United States, as well as making materially false statements to the Federal Election Commission.
Less than one hour after the release of that report, Mr. Santos announced via social media that he wouldn’t run for reelection.
“I will remain steadfast in fighting for my rights and for defending my name in the face of adversity. I am humbled yet again and reminded that I am human and I have flaws, but I will not stand by as I am stoned by those who have flaws themselves,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“I will continue on my mission to serve my constituents up until I am allowed. I will however not be seeking reelection for a second term in 2024 as my family deserves better than to be under the gun from the press all the time.”
The Ethics Committee report does not advocate for Mr. Santos’ expulsion or the implementation of extra-disciplinary penalties, but it does declare that the committee will transmit the information discovered to the Department of Justice.
The evidence reportedly supports claims that he “knowingly caused his campaign committee to file false or incomplete reports with the Federal Election Commission; used campaign funds for personal purposes; engaged in fraudulent conduct … and engaged in knowing and willful violations of the Ethics in Government Act.”
The committee collected a “voluminous” record, with more than 170,000 pages of papers and testimonials from dozens of witnesses, according to the recently released document.
Included in its report was the assertion that Mr. Santos “continues to flout his statutory financial disclosure obligations and has failed to correct countless errors and omissions in his past FD statements, despite being repeatedly reminded by the ISC and the committee of his requirement to do so.”
In November, the House voted down a Republican-led effort to remove him from office, in a 179–213 vote. A two-thirds majority would have been needed for the measure to pass.
The resolution was backed by several other New York Republicans who felt that Mr. Santos’s admitted dishonesty, combined with the accusations against him, made him unfit to serve as a U.S. representative.
At the time, some Republicans rejected the expulsion effort, saying they were waiting for the result of the Ethics Committee probe.
“That’s the due process that Santos has,” Rep. John Rutherford (R-Fla.), who sits on the Ethics Committee, told The Epoch Times at the time.
“So I think a lot of people are like, ‘Well, let’s just wait till we get the report and then make a decision.'”
Representatives for Mr. Santos’s office did not immediately respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment.
