Rep. George Santos departs the U.S. Capitol after a vote on May 11, 2023.
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Win McNamee/Getty Images
Rep. George Santos departs the U.S. Capitol after a vote on May 11, 2023.
Win McNamee/Getty Images
A House Democrat announced plans today to force a floor vote on a resolution to expel scandal-plagued Rep. George Santos from Congress, less than a week after the first-term Republican congressman pleaded not guilty to fraud charges.
The one-sentence resolution introduced by California Rep. Robert Garcia is a symbolic one; the measure is expected to fail but will force House Republicans to go on the record on their colleague from New York.
“George Santos is a fraud and a liar, and he needs to be expelled by the House,” Garcia said in a statement. “Republicans now have a chance to demonstrate to Americans that an admitted criminal should not serve in the House of Representatives.”
The motion is a privileged resolution, which when offered by a rank and file House member triggers a procedural vote in the next two days, although Republicans can still block the measure. Any motion to expel requires a two-thirds vote. But any GOP effort to block or table the resolution would still mean the House would vote.
Santos, whose office did not immediately respond to an NPR inquiry about his reaction to the resolution, has previously maintained his innocence and insisted he will remain in Congress.
In a statement after the resolution was introduced, DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene said “it’s past time for New Yorkers to have the honest representation they deserve. Now is the time for Members of Congress to demonstrate where they stand and expel George Santos from Congress.”
Santos, who has been facing calls from members of his own party to resign, pled not guilty last week to federal fraud charges. He faces 13 counts of criminal wrongdoing, including wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.
“This indictment seeks to hold Santos accountable for various alleged fraudulent schemes and brazen misrepresentations,” said U.S. Attorney Breon Peace in a statement.
“Taken together, the allegations in the indictment charge Santos with relying on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself,” he added. “He used political contributions to line his pockets, unlawfully applied for unemployment benefits that should have gone to New Yorkers who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic, and lied to the House of Representatives.”
Santos was released on a $500,000 bond.
One day after Santos pled not guilty, he appeared remotely in a criminal court for a separate case in Brazil. The New York Times first reported that the embattled congressman signed a deal with Brazilian prosecutors that he would confess to stealing checks to buy clothing and other goods in 2008 and pay almost $5,000 in fines.
In January, Santos voluntarily stepped down from his committee amidst outcry over his fabricated biography and ongoing questions surrounding his personal and campaign finances.
At the time, Santos told his GOP colleagues in a closed-door conference meeting that he was not pressured to do so by Speaker McCarthy, but felt staying on the committees was a distraction for his colleagues.
In March, the House Ethics Committee announced it was opening a formal investigation to examine whether Santos “engaged in unlawful activity” during his 2022 campaign. Democrats are forcing a vote before the ethics panel has concluded their investigation. Typically, expulsion recommendations come from an investigative panel on the House ethics committee and are reserved for severe misconduct. The last lawmaker expelled from the House was Rep. Jim Traficant, D-Ohio, in 2002 and his ousting came after he had been convicted of several crimes and an official recommendation came from the ethics committee to do so.
McCarthy said last week he would not support a reelection bid from Santos and said he would call on him to resign pending the results of the ongoing ethics investigation.
This story originally appeared on NPR
