This week in a startling albeit not unexpected move, Republican Congressman George Santos was expelled from the House of Representatives. Charged with 23 criminal offences – including wire fraud, money laundering, and identity theft among other illegalities – Santos has been the subject of ridicule and embarrassment for the legislative body over the past year.
We will now look at the GOP fraudster’s long and winding road to the House and his expulsion efforts.
Getting To The House
In the 2022 Midterms, the Republicans may have done very poorly but they were still able to pinch the House of Representatives. Even so, the GOP had a razor-thin majority of four. That perhaps explains why high-profile Republicans were reticent to condemn his actions.
In 2022, Santos was elected and became the first Republican Representative of New York’s 3rd District since 2010.
He was able to flip the Democrat-leaning seat by 8 points in part due to his strong and charismatic image, a vibrant and young hopeful who was Jewish, the son of immigrants, and would become the first-ever openly gay Republican Representative.
Voters were yet to find out that Santos had only got to Congress based on sham after sham.
The Truth Comes Out
On December 19th when elected but not yet sitting in the House, The New York Times ran an article titled Who is Rep.-Elect George Santos? His Resume May Be Largely Fiction, which uncovered findings of Santos’ many untruths.
From here, the falsehoods snowballed and soon the scale of Santos’ avalanche of deceit became evident.
The many contested claims are well-documented and extremely lengthy so here are just a few of the hits: claiming his mother died in 9/11 (she died in 2016 in Brazil, having not been to the USA since 1999), claiming his grandparents were Holocaust escapees (they lived in Brazil), and claimed employment at companies such as Goldman Sachs (the company has no records of his tenure).
One of the more bizarre lies was telling people he was a producer for the Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark musical, one critically derided by The New York Times’ Ben Brantley as “among the worst [musical]” and “grievously broken in every respect that it is beyond repair.”
He had used various aliases such as Anthony Devolder and Anthony Zabrovsky whilst craving out his falsified public image.
“A lot of people have those insecurities,” Santos said. “Actually, studies show that most people lie on their resumes…unfortunately, it’s the reality.”
The NYT piece also pointed out Santos had previous criminal convictions in Brazil for check fraud in which he had pleaded guilty.
Reaction From The Electorate
Over his year in office, Santos has faced overwhelming condemnation across the board from voters across the country and political spectrum.
As Santos took his seat in January, a Newsday/Siena College poll found that 78% of NY 3rd District voters wanted Santos to step down. This is the highest ever percentage polled stating constituents want a Congressman to step down. This figure includes 89% of Democrats and 71% of Republicans.
He was also trailing his ex-Democrat opponent by 21 points by his first months in office.
A later poll in May 2023 found only 7% of those surveyed were favourable towards the disgraced Congressman.
Republican Reproval
Santos’ actions provided Democrats with a clear target for attack. However, it was not a partisan issue as many GOP lawmakers objected publicly.
The first to do so was fellow New York Representative Anthony D’Esposito, just days after Santos was sworn in. He would soon be followed by three other Representatives the same day.
Within a month, he had withdrawn committee assignments on Small Business and Space, Science, and Technology.
At the 2023 State of the Union address, Santos was confronted by Mitt Romney. The belligerent Senator told Santos he was not worthy of Congress and was conducting himself disgracefully. Romney called Santos an “embarrassment” to his party, Congress, and the nation.
Much of Santos’ backlash came from his home state, with the chair of the New York GOP supporting calls for him to resign, with Nick LaLota remarking: “What he’s done is disgraceful, dishonourable, and unworthy of office.”
Ethics Investigation
In May, Santos was indicted on 23 criminal charges.
Soon after, an ethics investigation was launched into Santos, which was a damning 56-page report for Santos.
The report found “substantial evidence” Santos had “fraudulently exploited every aspect of his House candidacy for his financial profit.”
One particular talking point was that $50,000 donated to his campaign fund was used personally on Hermes clothing, Botox, and Only Fans.
Chair of the Ethics Committee Michael Guest introduced an expulsion resolution against his fellow Republican.
Although Santos had survived previous attempts to oust him, with the new report, which found a “complex web of unlawful activity”, he would not escape this time.
Even Democrats who had previously opposed expulsion, such as Katie Hobbs and Jamie Raskin voted to remove Santos in the wake of the decisive report.
Result
Under Article I, Section 5 of the Constitution, a two-thirds supermajority is needed to expel a member of Congress.
On December 1st, the House voted 311-114 to remove Santos, clearing the necessary supermajority.
112 Republicans voted against the motion but it failed to save him as 105 voted for expulsion. Only two Democrats actively voted to save Santos.
This made Santos the first ousted Congressman since 2002. He is the first Republican to ever be removed.
Santos is the first non-convicted criminal or Confederate to be expelled. The rarity of expulsion is evidenced by the fact no individual was removed from 1862-1980, demonstrating the landmark occasion marked this week.
Reaction From George Santos
It seems this is almost definitely the end of Santos in the political realm, ditched by a jury of his peers, his own party essential in making it happen.
His attitude, as expressed after the vote, seems to be “to hell with this place.”
Indeed, he has already lashed out, outing Representative Nicole Malliotakis and questioning the finances of Santos sceptic Mike Lawler.
Filled with venom, a bitter Santos is set out on revenge and has a great deal of GOP allies still.
Much like the speakership crisis of earlier this year, the matter could be one that leads to significant inter-party turmoil in the Republican Party – thus making Santos’ expulsion historic in several ways.
GRIFFIN KAYE.
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