Lying Rep. George Santos becomes 6th member expelled from House

Lying Long Island Rep. George Santos (R-NY) became the sixth member to be expelled from the US House of Representatives on Friday, a little more than a year after he won election despite fabricating his personal and professional history, lying about his campaign’s finances and defrauding donors.

The House voted to oust the 35-year-old Republican, with more than 100 of his fellow GOP lawmakers supporting his removal.

Santos, who had dodged two previous expulsion votes this year, told “Fox & Friends” during a Friday morning interview that he had already “accepted the fate.”

“I believe that if it’s God’s will to keep me here, I will stay and if … it is His will for me to leave, I will leave and I will do so graciously,” he said.

Speaker Mike Johnson, who expressed “real reservations” earlier in the week about voting to expel Santos, told reporters shortly before ballots were cast that he would not support the congressman’s removal.

He had also urged House Republicans “to vote their conscience,” stressing that there were “good faith” arguments for and against the expulsion.

Every other member of House GOP leadership also revealed they would oppose the expulsion less than an hour before the vote.

“No Member of Congress has ever been expelled without a conviction; this is a dangerous precedent and I am voting no based upon my concerns regarding due process,” House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (NY) said on X.

Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) revealed in an email obtained by Punchbowl News that he was, in fact, one of the donors that Santos had defrauded, saying he respected other members’ decisions but he would be voting for Santos’ removal.

The vote followed a scathing report from the House Ethics Committee about the congressman’s use of campaign funds for personal splurges, including X-rated OnlyFans subscriptions, Botox and lavish trips.

Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Clay Higgins (R-La.) expressed solidarity with Santos during debate on the House floor Thursday afternoon and argued against his removal.

“Whatever Mr. Santos did with Botox or OnlyFans is less concerning to me than the indictment against Senator [Bob] Menendez [of New Jersey], who is holding gold bars inscribed with Arabic on them from Egypt while he’s still getting classified briefings today,” Gaetz said in a floor speech.

But New York Republicans who had previously pushed for Santos’ expulsion following the House ethics inquiry argued it was time for the body to set “a new precedent” for expulsions based on a violation of ethics rules.

“If we have an opportunity in this great institution to start a new precedent that means we hold members of the House of Representatives to a higher standard, ladies and gentlemen, I’m pretty confident that the American people would applaud that,” Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) said.

D’Esposito had privileged the expulsion resolution on Tuesday, which was introduced earlier by House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest (R-Miss.) following the panel’s investigation.

“As the Ethics Committee’s report lays out in thorough detail, Mr. Santos has repeatedly, egregiously and brazenly violated the public’s trust,” Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.), a member of the committee, also said on the House floor.

“Mr. Santos is not a victim. He is a perpetrator of a massive fraud on his constituents and the American people.”

The representative from New York’s 3rd Congressional District is also facing a 23-count federal indictment for having laundered his campaign’s money and defrauded donors. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Santos, 35, had expected the ouster, declaring in a press conference Thursday morning that the lower chamber would set a terrible precedent in “bullying” him from office before he has his day in court and decrying the ethics report as “slanderous.”

“They are trying to join me to the group of three Confederates and two people convicted in a court of law,” he said, mentioning the five previous expulsions in the history of the House.

“So if I am to get expelled tomorrow, I will be number six in the history — the first Republican and the only one without a conviction or without having committed treason,” Santos added.

“[I]f I leave, they win,” he said when asked why he had chosen not to resign before the vote. “If I leave, the bullies take place — this is bullying.”

Three House Democrats — former Missouri Reps. John B. Clark and John W. Reid and former Kentucky Rep. Henry C. Burnett — were expelled in 1861 for supporting the Confederate rebellion against the Union.

Former Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Michael Myers was also voted out of Congress in 1980 after he was convicted of bribery as part of the Abscam scandal.

Ex-Ohio Democratic Rep. James Traficant was the last member to be expelled from the House, following his 2002 conviction on bribery and corruption charges.

In a last-ditch effort, the truth-challenged pol had introduced a resolution to expel Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) for having falsely pulled a fire alarm in a House office building as Democrats were trying to delay a September vote to avert a government shutdown.

Unlike Santos, Bowman has already pleaded guilty to having improperly pulled the alarm and agreed to pay a fine of $1,000 through an agreement reached with the DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb, which will see the charges dismissed after three months.

Santos will head to trial Sept. 9, 2024.