Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., departs a House Republican closed-door caucus to decide who to nominate for speaker of the House, on Capitol HillAlex Brandon/AP
On Wednesday, a group of New York House Republicans announced that they will introduce a resolution to expel Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.), who was indicted yesterday on new charges that included campaign violations for a fake-donor scheme first reported by Mother Jones earlier this year. The resolution, which will be introduced by Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.), marks the first GOP-led effort to boot Santos from their ranks. It will require at least two-thirds of the House to pass.
Today, I’ll be introducing an expulsion resolution to rid the People’s House of fraudster, George Santos. The resolution will be co-sponsored by fellow #NewYork freshman @RepLaLota @RepMikeLawler @RepMolinaroNY19 @RepLangworthy @RepWilliams.
Our statement will follow. 🇺🇸
— Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (@RepDesposito) October 11, 2023
House Democrats attempted to expel the disgraced Republican in May following Santos’ first indictment on 13 criminal counts related to fraud and money laundering crimes. Republicans quickly referred the motion to the House Ethics Committee, effectively killing the resolution.
“I’m going to continue to fight this as much as I said in the past. Nothing has changed,” Santos told reporters after getting hit with 10 additional charges on Tuesday, adding that he was “pretty much denying every last bit of charges.” As my colleagues David Corn and Noah Lanard wrote, federal prosecutors are newly accusing Santos of using his “donors’ credit cards to make unauthorized transactions that ended up transferring funds to his own campaign, the campaigns of other candidates, and his own bank account.”
Earlier this year, Mother Jones broke the news that Santos had reported receiving what appeared to be fake donations during his 2020 and 2022 congressional campaigns—a straightforward violation of federal campaign finance laws. His former treasurer, Nancy Marks, confirmed Mother Jones’ reporting by pleading guilty last week to having helped Santos pull off this scam in order to falsely inflate his campaign’s fundraising totals. Marks is facing a recommended prison sentence of up to four years. In May, Santos pleaded not guilty to 13 other charges.
With a thin majority in the House, it’s unlikely that Republican leadership will risk taking action on the motion. But Rep. Nick LaLota, one of the New York Republicans co-sponsoring the motion, insisted that the move to expel Santos would soon “catch fire.”
One of the reporters who broke the story, Noah Lanard, explains everything you need to know about how we got here:
