The House is set to decide embattled GOP Rep. George Santos’ future in Congress on Friday in the wake of an explosive report from the House Ethics Committee that convinced many of his colleagues to change their minds on expelling him.
It’s the lower chamber’s third attempt since May to oust the New York Republican and comes two weeks after the House Ethics Committee released a damning report finding “substantial evidence” that Santos repeatedly broke the law.
Santos would be just the sixth House member in U.S. history to be expelled and the first in more than 20 years. Rep. James Traficant was removed from office in 2002 after being convicted of 10 corruption-related felonies.
The House debated the resolution to expel him on Thursday, and a final vote is set for Friday morning.
Santos’ surprise victory in the 2022 midterm elections helped Republicans capture control of the House, but he quickly became an embarrassment for the party when he was found to have fabricated or exaggerated large portions of his biography.
He also attracted the attention of federal investigators, who charged him with fraud, money laundering and other crimes in May. The scope of the case expanded in October, when he was hit with more charges accusing him of stealing his campaign donors’ identities and racking up thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges on their credit cards, falsifying campaign finance reports, money laundering and more. He has pleaded not guilty to all 23 federal charges he now faces.
His potential ouster comes despite some Republicans’ concerns over the party’s already slim majority in the House and reservations by some lawmakers about expelling Santos when has not been convicted of a crime.
Santos has said he would wear his expulsion “like a badge of honor.”
“We live in times where political expedience is more important than process,” Santos said last week. “Due process is dead. Due process has evaporated.”
