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Embattled New York Republican Survives Effort to Expel Him from the House

WASHINGTON ÔÇö Rep. George Santos, the embattled New York Republican who admitted to lying about his background and has been indicted on federal fraud charges, easily survived a bipartisan effort to expel him from the House of Representatives on Wednesday.

The expulsion resolution, which was led by his fellow New York Republicans and says Santos is ÔÇ£not fit to serve,ÔÇØ needed support from a supermajority, or at least two-thirds of the voting lawmakers, to pass.

The final tally did not even crest the simple majority threshold: 179 voted in favor of expulsion, 213 against and 19 voting present. Thirty one Democrats voted with 182 Republicans against expulsion, while 24 Republicans voted with 155 Democrats to remove Santos.

“One can’t say that they are pro-Constitution and at the same time act as judge, jury and executioner. Where is the consistency?” Santos said of his New York colleagues in a defiant floor speech ahead of Wednesday’s vote.

He noted that the last time a House member was expelled, more than 20 years ago, that person had been criminally convicted. “Now is not the time to set dangerous precedent,” he said.

Santos pleaded not guilty to a superseding federal indictment Friday and is not scheduled to stand trial until September.

Newly minted Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., expressed concerns on Fox News last week that the GOPÔÇÖs minuscule four-seat majority could be further eroded with SantosÔÇÖ expulsion and that the New York fabulist deserved ÔÇ£due process.ÔÇØ

Other Republicans said they first want to see how the House Ethics Committee handles the case before they decide SantosÔÇÖ fate. The bipartisan panel said Tuesday it will announce the next steps in its investigation by Nov. 17. The committee has contacted roughly 40 witnesses, reviewed more than 170,000 pages of documents and authorized 37 subpoenas, its leaders said.

Freshman Rep. Anthony DÔÇÖEsposito, R-N.Y., who authored the resolution, warned that he could force another vote to expel Santos after the Ethics Committee releases its findings.

ÔÇ£In two weeks, we will read the ethics report, and, you know, you donÔÇÖt need to be a retired New York City detective to understand that the report is probably not going to be good, and weÔÇÖll go from there,ÔÇØ DÔÇÖEsposito told reporters Wednesday.

Asked whether he might bring up the resolution again, he replied: ÔÇ£Absolutely.ÔÇØ

Before the Santos vote, the House voted to set aside, or “table,” a resolution censuring Rep Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., over her criticism and protests of Israel.

Earlier Wednesday, DÔÇÖEsposito and four other New York Republicans facing tough races ÔÇö Reps. Nick LaLota, Marc Molinaro, Brandon Williams and Mike Lawler ÔÇö sent a letter to colleagues urging them to back the resolution.

ÔÇ£As Republican members from the New York Delegation, we fully support SantosÔÇÖ expulsion, and ask all of our colleagues to join us in voting yes,ÔÇØ they wrote.

The five lawmakers also addressed several concerns from colleagues about expelling Santos. In response to cries of “Let the voters decide,” the New York Republicans said voters were “robbed” of that opportunity when they were “duped” into voting for an accused fraudster. And to those concerned about risking the GOP’s already slim majority, they said, “This issue is not a political one, but a moral one.”

The resolution referred to the pending criminal charges against Santos and his ÔÇ£history of misrepresenting his and his familyÔÇÖs connections to major events, including the Holocaust, Sept. 11th terrorist attacks and the Pulse nightclub shooting.ÔÇØ

DÔÇÖEsposito told reporters Wednesday before the vote: ÔÇ£ItÔÇÖs a time in American history where the American people ÔÇö especially over the last three weeks ÔÇö are looking at this place saying, ÔÇÿThey should be held to a higher standard.ÔÇÖ And we have someone whoÔÇÖs a complete fraud, who lied his way to the House of Representatives, who lied about his education, lied about his faith, lied about the fact that his family was victims of 9/11, of the Holocaust.

ÔÇ£So when George continues to argue that he wants to let the people of the 3rd Congressional District speak, they spoke last November, and they spoke in favor of someone who is not the person who has been elected to office,ÔÇØ he continued. ÔÇ£And now theyÔÇÖre speaking again, and itÔÇÖs very clear that they donÔÇÖt want him in office.ÔÇØ

LaLota agreed that itÔÇÖs time for Santos to go.

ÔÇ£LetÔÇÖs get the people of New YorkÔÇÖs 3rd District some decent representation. Let’s raise the bar here in the House of Representatives. LetÔÇÖs hold one of our own accountable. LetÔÇÖs expel George Santos,” he said on the House floor Wednesday.

But expulsions are extremely rare. Just five House members have been expelled in U.S. history, three of them for fighting for the Confederacy during the Civil War. The most recent was Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio, who was expelled on a near-unanimous vote in 2002 after he was convicted of federal bribery, fraud and other charges.

Santos has been under scrutiny for lying to his constituents since his election after The New York Times reported that large parts of his campaign biography were bogus. Other stories followed, including one debunking his claim to a Jewish group that he was Jewish.

In an interview with Piers Morgan, Santos insisted he never claimed to be Jewish, despite video showing he had, and he contended that he had said he was ÔÇ£Jew-ishÔÇØ as ÔÇ£a party favor.ÔÇØ

More serious allegations followed. He was indicted in May on seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds and two counts of making materially false statements to Congress on campaign forms.

He was hit with 10 additional counts last month, including conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, wire fraud, making materially false statements to the Federal Election Commission, falsifying records submitted to obstruct the FEC, aggravated identity theft and device fraud.

He has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges, which he claims are part of a politically motivated “witch hunt” against him.

Speaking Wednesday to reporters just off the House floor, Santos took shots at his fellow New York colleagues who were leading the effort to oust him.

ÔÇ£If you look at the reputation of some of these gentlemen, youÔÇÖll understand why itÔÇÖs so, itÔÇÖs like water off a duckÔÇÖs back coming from them,” Santos said. “If it were coming from any higher ground, that would be a lot more offensive. But coming from who itÔÇÖs coming from, itÔÇÖs almost laughable.ÔÇØ

LaLota agreed that itÔÇÖs time for Santos to go.

ÔÇ£LetÔÇÖs get the people of New YorkÔÇÖs 3rd District some decent representation. Let’s raise the bar here in the House of Representatives. LetÔÇÖs hold one of our own accountable. LetÔÇÖs expel George Santos,” he said on the House floor Wednesday.

But expulsions are extremely rare. Just five House members have been expelled in U.S. history, three of them for fighting for the Confederacy during the Civil War. The most recent was Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio, who was expelled on a near-unanimous vote in 2002 after he was convicted of federal bribery, fraud and other charges.

Santos has been under scrutiny for lying to his constituents since his election after The New York Times reported that large parts of his campaign biography were bogus. Other stories followed, including one debunking his claim to a Jewish group that he was Jewish.

In an interview with Piers Morgan, Santos insisted he never claimed to be Jewish, despite video showing he had, and he contended that he had said he was ÔÇ£Jew-ishÔÇØ as ÔÇ£a party favor.ÔÇØ

More serious allegations followed. He was indicted in May on seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds and two counts of making materially false statements to Congress on campaign forms.

He was hit with 10 additional counts last month, including conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, wire fraud, making materially false statements to the Federal Election Commission, falsifying records submitted to obstruct the FEC, aggravated identity theft and device fraud.

He has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges, which he claims are part of a politically motivated “witch hunt” against him.

Speaking Wednesday to reporters just off the House floor, Santos took shots at his fellow New York colleagues who were leading the effort to oust him.

ÔÇ£If you look at the reputation of some of these gentlemen, youÔÇÖll understand why itÔÇÖs so, itÔÇÖs like water off a duckÔÇÖs back coming from them,” Santos said. “If it were coming from any higher ground, that would be a lot more offensive. But coming from who itÔÇÖs coming from, itÔÇÖs almost laughable.ÔÇØ

LaLota agreed that itÔÇÖs time for Santos to go.

ÔÇ£LetÔÇÖs get the people of New YorkÔÇÖs 3rd District some decent representation. Let’s raise the bar here in the House of Representatives. LetÔÇÖs hold one of our own accountable. LetÔÇÖs expel George Santos,” he said on the House floor Wednesday.

But expulsions are extremely rare. Just five House members have been expelled in U.S. history, three of them for fighting for the Confederacy during the Civil War. The most recent was Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio, who was expelled on a near-unanimous vote in 2002 after he was convicted of federal bribery, fraud and other charges.

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