George Santos may spend his last day in Congress trying to expel a Democrat for pulling a fire alarm

A House vote on whether to expel Rep. George Santos (R-NY) from Congress will likely take place this Friday – and Santos is not expected to survive it. With one day to go until his fate is decided, he has chosen to revive his bizarre vendetta against Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), who recently pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for pulling the fire alarm during a key House vote (which he has maintained was an accident).

Santos became obsessed with punishing Bowman after it happened, claiming repeatedly that Bowman pulled the alarm on purpose as the Democrats were desperate to delay a vote on a 45-day funding bill that would prevent a government shutdown. Bowman told the press that he did not pull the fire alarm to delay a vote but that he mistakenly set it off while actually in a rush to get to a vote. He got stuck behind a door that is not typically locked.

Related:

George Santos tries to be cocky while colleagues introduce multiple resolutions to expel him

Santos told his colleagues to “put up or shut up.” They’re doing just that.

On Thursday morning, Santos claimed that if he was going to be expelled after being charged with 23 federal criminal counts of fraud connected to various alleged financial crimes, then it was only fair for Bowman to be expelled for his one misdemeanor.

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He claimed that had it been anyone else who pulled the alarm, especially a Republican member of Congress, that person would have been charged with obstructing a congressional hearing. “Just like those 140 people sitting in prison right now because of January 6,” he said. “But Jamaal Bowman gets a pass.”

This is not the first time Santos has compared Bowman’s actions to the January 6 insurrection. After it first happened, Santos continuously attacked Bowman, accusing him of treason and proposing an amendment to a major government funding bill focused on “ensuring fire safety protocol in the halls of Congress.”

Santos told the press he would introduce a privileged motion to expel Bowman today at noon. “That’s consistency,” he said.

“If the House wants to start different precedent and expel me, that is going to be the undoing of a lot of members of this body, because this will haunt them in the future where mere allegations are sufficient to have members removed from office,” he continued.

As it has become clearer that Santos does not have the votes to keep his position, the congressman has been trying to turn himself into a martyr. “Expel me and set the precedent so we can see who the judge, jury and executioners in Congress are,” he wrote on X on November 27.

On Tuesday night, Santos also spoke on the House floor to reiterate that he will not resign. He said his expulsion would create “a very dangerous precedent” that “one is no longer innocent until proven guilty” and that “because somebody doesn’t like you, they get to throw you out of your job.”

Santos has already survived two attempts to expel him. Many Republicans who voted against his expulsion the last two times have changed their minds now that a damning report from the House Ethics Committee has been made public. The committee voted unanimously to adopt the report that said there was “substantial evidence” that Santos used campaign funds for his personal expenses and “sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal financial profit.”

Two-thirds of the House must vote to expel Santos, and Republicans have a narrow majority in the House. If he is expelled, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) can issue a proclamation for a special election to find someone to replace him for the remainder of the congressional session.

The charge against Bowman will be withdrawn at the end of January after he pays a fine of $1000 and writes an apology letter to Capitol Police.