George Santos gloats after surviving House expulsion vote

Out Rep. George Santos (R-NY) — who is currently facing 23 federal financial fraud charges — gloated on social media after his colleagues voted 213-179 against expelling him from the House on Wednesday night.

Though New York Republicans began the second effort to expel him, they failed to achieve the two-thirds majority needed to do so. The successful vote to keep Santos in Congress included 31 Democrats as well as 19 other Democrats who voted “present” rather than voting for or against his expulsion. Twenty-four Republicans voted to expel him.

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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.”

In a now-deleted post on X, Santos shared an image of himself wearing a golden crown in front of a backdrop of the House floor with the words, “If you come for me, you best not miss.” Along with the image, Santos wrote, “Tonight was a victory for due process not me. This was never about me, and I’ll never let it become about me. We all have rights under this great Constitutional Republic and I’ll fight for our right to uphold them till my last dying breath.”

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George Santos' deleted his tweet reacting to the defeat of a resolution to expel him and replaced it with one key difference. It's subtle but see if you can spot it: pic.twitter.com/7N0TztvWxO

— Andrew Solender (@AndrewSolender) November 2, 2023

Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY), who introduced the resolution to expel Santos, told reporters after the failed vote that some of his congressional colleagues likely voted against Santos’ expulsion because, before the vote, the House Ethics Committee issued a statement saying that it would release a report about its investigation into his alleged financial misdealings by November 17.

“There’s no question that the memo that they put out definitely gave some of our colleagues the ability to say let’s hold off for the two weeks and see where the report leads up, which is fine,” D’Esposito said. “ “I am confident the findings of the upcoming House Ethics Committee report on George Santos will expose Santos’ deceptions and outline what New Yorkers already know — that George Santos is a fraud unworthy of serving in public office.”

“In two weeks, we will read the ethics report, and, you know, you don’t need to be a retired New York City detective to understand that the report is probably not going to be good, and we’ll go from there,” he added.

One of the Democrats who voted against expelling Santos, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD.), explained that he voted no because he believes representatives should only be expelled if they’re convicted of a crime.

“This would be a terrible precedent to set, expelling people who have not been convicted of a crime and without internal due process,” Raskin said in a statement. “If and when Santos is convicted of these very serious criminal offenses or ethics charges, I will certainly vote to expel.”

Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY)  told reporters in late October that New York Republicans want to expel Santos because his 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 23 criminal charges include embezzling money from his campaign and lying in congressional financial disclosures. His trial is scheduled for September 9, 2024.

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.

In an October 26 tweet, Santos defiantly wrote via Twitter, “Three points of clarification: 1. I have not cleared out my office. 2. I’m not resigning. 3. I’m entitled to due process and not a predetermined outcome as some are seeking. God bless!”

Three points of clarification:

1. I have not cleared out my office.

2. I’m not resigning.

3. I’m entitled to due process and not a predetermined outcome as some are seeking.

God bless!

— George Santos (@MrSantosNY) October 26, 2023

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.

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.

Torres 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.