New York Republicans move to kick Rep. George Santos out of House

Several New York Republicans in the U.S. House have introduced a privileged resolution that would force a vote on expelling out gay Rep. George Santos (R-NY). Santos has been accused of financial fraud and misdealing. He is expected to enter a plea on additional felony fraud charges in a New York federal courtroom on Friday morning.

Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) introduced the resolution. It gives the House’s Republican leaders two days to decide whether to allow a vote or move the resolution to a committee. Either decision will require a majority vote. Expelling Santos would require two-thirds of all House legislators to vote in favor of doing so, according to The Hill. It’s unclear if House Republicans would vote to expel him because doing so would weaken the party’s already slim majority in the lower congressional chamber.

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.”

Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY) said that when D’Esposito mentioned his resolution to the new Republican House speaker, rabidly anti-LGBTQ+ Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), Johnson allegedly responded, “Do what’s right and do what’s right for New York.”

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LaLota told reporters on Thursday that New York Republicans introduced the motion because Santos’ former campaign treasurer Nancy Marks recently pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the U.S. government. Marks told a federal court earlier this month that Santos illegally “submitted bogus campaign finance reports” to help attract more donors to his campaign.

Marks said Santos falsely wrote in campaign finance reports that he had loaned $500,000 to his campaign, despite never doing so and not having the money to do so. Santos did this “to make it look like he had a well-funded campaign, which might attract other donors,” she said. She also said that she gave the Federal Elections Commission a fake list of donors, listing the names of real people who had neither donated nor given his campaign permission to use their names.

Marks’ guilty plea and possible cooperation with prosecutors could spell doom for Santos seeing as his 13 criminal charges include embezzling money from his campaign and lying in congressional financial disclosures.

“The treasurer’s plea I think is confirmation …of a criminal conspiracy to defraud voters, donors, the [Federal Elections Commission], and everybody in between,” LaLota told reporters on Thursday.

Marks is the second aide of Santos to face criminal charges. Samuel Miele, Santos’ former campaign aide, has been charged with four counts of wire fraud and one count of identity theft for allegedly sending fundraising emails and phone calls in which he claimed to be Dan Meyer, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) now-retired chief of staff. Miele has pleaded not guilty.

Santos has pleaded not guilty to all charges facing him so far. He has also said he has no intention of resigning and is seeking re-election, though he will face numerous Republican primary challengers who want to unseat him. New York state Republicans worry that Santos’ past scandals may help a Democrat win the seat, possibly handing Democrats control of the House in 2025.

Santos has admitted to fabricating large parts of his personal history during his election campaign. Out Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) and other House Democrats introduced a resolution to censure Santos for lying about his personal and professional life in order to get elected.

In May, Santos was charged in federal court with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives, and one count of theft of public funds. Prosecutors allege that he illegally used campaign funds to buy designer clothes and other personal items. He has tried to fundraise off of these criminal charges.

Santos has admitted to fabricating large parts of his personal history during his election campaign. He has provided no substantial proof to back up his claims that his grandparents escaped the Holocaust, that he attended the Horace Mann preparatory school, that his mother died in connection to the September 11th terrorist attacks, or that he lost four employees in the June 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting.

Santos was part of Rio’s drag scene in the late 2000s (despite initially claiming that he was never a drag queen). Santos also denied an accusation of check fraud in Brazil but later formally confessed to it. Some have questioned whether he married his ex-wife just so that she could obtain U.S. citizenship.

Out Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) and other House Democrats had previously introduced a resolution to censure Santos for lying about his personal and professional life in order to get elected. The resolution was sent to the House Ethics Committee, which is currently conducting an investigation into Santos. The committee is expected to release its investigation’s findings before the end of the year.