House rejects resolution to expel lying Rep. George Santos

The House on Wednesday night voted down a resolution to expel Rep. George Santos, deferring all future discipline to an ongoing ethics inquiry into the lying Long Island Republican.

The resolution failed 179-213, despite 24 Republicans and 155 Democrats casting a ballot to expel the truth-challenged congressman following his sweeping 23-count federal indictment on embezzlement and fraud charges.

Four GOP lawmakers and 15 Democratic members voted present. Twenty-two were absent.

Rep. Anthony D’Esposito and fellow New York GOP Reps. Marc Molinaro, Nick LaLota, Brandon Williams and Mike Lawler brought the privileged resolution to the floor last week, forcing a vote within two legislative days.

“All you have to do is look at the lies and deceptions in the resolution and details of the indictments — multiple indictments — to see that Mr. Santos is a stain on this institution and not fit to serve in the House of Representatives,” D’Esposito said in a House floor speech before the vote.

The resolution cites Santos’ lies about his personal background, education and past employment, as well as his fabrications about his family members having escaped Nazi Germany and narrowly survived the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“This is not something you joke about, you lie about,” Lawler declared from the House floor before the vote of Santos’ falsehoods. “It is unfit!”

It also points to a recent guilty plea by his 2022 campaign treasurer, Nancy Marks, who admitted to falsifying finance reports, one of which claimed the congressman personally donated $500,000 to his own campaign.

Santos blasted the resolution from the House floor as “politically motivated,” saying the “overlords of the GOP” and the lawmakers bringing the resolution were acting as “judge, jury and executioner” against him.

“Now is not the time to set dangerous precedent,” he added, pointing to congressional expulsions that have taken place after members were convicted.

Santos also said several members of Congress have maintained their support for Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who is under investigation for federal bribery charges, and for Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), who pleaded guilty last week to having falsely pulled a fire alarm in one of the Capitol office buildings.

“I must warn my colleagues that voting for expulsion at this point would circumvent the judicial system’s right to due process that I am entitled to,” he said.

Two-thirds of the lower chamber would have had to vote in favor for the 35-year-old Santos to be ejected from Congress.

Under former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), House GOP lawmakers batted down an earlier move by Democrats to expel the freshman rep, opting instead to refer Santos’ many fabrications and financial misdeeds to the House Ethics Committee.

House Democrats criticized the New York Republican delegation for having missed the previous opportunity to remove Santos, with their political campaign arm blaming them for having “knowingly stalled expelling their criminally-indicted colleague from Congress.”

In one expected turn, Santos yielded his floor time to Rep. Dan Goldman (R-NY), who rose in support of D’Esposito’s expulsion resolution while hitting GOP lawmakers for delaying the vote.

On Tuesday, the House panel released an interim report that it had “contacted approximately 40 witnesses, reviewed more than 170,000 pages of documents, and authorized 37 subpoenas.”

The committee also announced its “next course of action” against the 3rd district representative would go forward “on or before” Nov. 17.

Santos has pleaded not guilty to all charges stemming from his federal indictment.

At least nine Republican candidates have announced primary challenges in 2024, as the congressman has refused to resign.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) also expressed a dim view of the expulsion effort in a Fox News interview last week, noting that Republicans had “a four-seat majority in the House” and Santos should be afforded “due process.”

But even after Johnson’s remarks, the New York Republicans remained stalwart in their expulsion push hours before the resolution came to the floor, circulating a letter to their colleagues urging them to expel Santos.

“The United States Congress must always uphold the highest standards and ensure accountability for those who have taken advantage of the American people — regardless of political party,” they wrote.

“Many have rightly called for the resignation and expulsion of Senator Bob Menendez and we see no difference in the case of George Santos. We must lead by example. We must rise to the occasion. We must do what is right.”

The House has expelled only five of its members in its history, with Ohio Democrat James Traficant being the latest to get the boot in 2002 after he was convicted of bribery, racketeering and tax evasion.