House Republicans introduce resolution to give George Santos the boot

Six House Republicans have introduced a resolution to expel out Rep. George Santos (R-NY) today just after he was hit with 10 more federal charges related to allegedly using other people’s money to enrich himself.

“Today, I’ll be introducing an expulsion resolution to rid the People’s House of fraudster, George Santos,” Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) tweeted, adding that the resolution’s cosponsors will be fellow New York Republican Reps. Mike Lawler, Nick LaLota, Marc Molinaro, Nick Langworthy, and Brandon Williams.

Related:

George Santos flees from reporters asking about his 10 new criminal charges

One reporter said Santos “rushed into his office and slammed his door on us.”

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“If they want to be judge, jury, and arbitrator of the whole God damn thing let them do it,” Santos told reporters today at the Capitol. “They just want to silence the people of the Third Congressional District.”

This isn’t the first time that his colleagues have introduced a resolution to expel him. In May, Reps. Robert Garcia (D-CA), Becca Balint (D-VT), and Eric Sorensen (D-IL) cosponsored a resolution to expel Santos after he was indicted with 13 federal charges in connection to alleged schemes to enrich himself. Garcia, Balint, and Sorenson are all out LGBTQ+ lawmakers.

They are also all Democrats, which may have played a role in how House Republicans moved to effectively table the resolution by sending it to the notoriously slow House Ethics Committee.

“We all know that Rep. George Santos is a liar and a fraud and should be expelled from Congress,” Garcia said at the time. “Republicans in the House now have an opportunity to stand with the American public and their constituents, or to stand with someone who has been indicted on 13 counts.” 

The resolution today comes after 10 additional fraud charges were added to Santos’s indictment by federal prosecutors. The new charges accuse him of fraudulently charging tens of thousands of dollars to his own donors’ credit cards, faking a $500,000 loan to his own campaign, and filing false campaign finance reports reflecting fake contributions from real people who didn’t give their permission.

The vote to remove Santos will require a two-thirds majority in the House, which means that it will require a substantial number of Republicans to pass. It comes as the House no longer has a speaker because a group of eight House Republicans voted with House Democrats to remove Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from the speakership after Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) introduced a motion to vacate.

Republicans have a narrow majority in the House with which to elect a new speaker – Democrats will not vote for a Republican speaker – and losing Santos’s reliably conservative vote could give many Republicans pause as they consider whether to remove him.