House Debates Whether to Expel Santos From Office

The House of Representatives concluded a reinvigorated debate on Thursday on whether to expel Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., setting the stage for a vote that seems somewhat tilted against him.

The vote, scheduled for Friday, will be the third time this year that the House has weighed the fate of Santos, a serial fabulist who entered Congress clouded by scandal and has since been indicted on 23 federal felony charges.

But this effort was buoyed by a detailed and damning report from the House Ethics Committee that found significant evidence that Santos had violated federal law. And even some of those who spoke on Santos’ behalf did not try to excuse his behavior.

“I rise, not to defend George Santos, whoever he is,” Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., said. He would later reference some of the most salacious allegations in the report, including that Santos used campaign funds to buy Botox and to make purchases on OnlyFans, the adult entertainment site.

The Ethics Committee’s report was central to Thursday’s debate. In an unusual move, the committee’s chair, Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., gave a passionate defense of the report and argued forcefully to expel Santos. To underscore his point, he brought large posters printed with the report’s findings.

Rep. Anthony D’Esposito of New York, who was the first sitting House Republican to call on Santos to resign, said in the debate’s opening remarks that the report was too comprehensive to ignore. “If we do not take the Ethics Committee and its results seriously,” he asked, “then why even have the committee in the first place?”

But Santos, 35, cast aspersions on the committee, accusing it of rushing to oust him without giving him due process. He asserted that the bipartisan committee started its work with a predetermined outcome.

“I’m not trying to be arrogant or spiteful or, you know, disrespectful of the committee,” Santos said. “But I am curious to know: What is the schedule of the Ethics Committee? Why rush this?”

In Santos’ support, Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., said that expelling him would significantly break with past precedent. Only five lawmakers have ever been removed from the House: Three for supporting the Confederacy during the Civil War, and two after criminal convictions.

“I’ve heard your argument. I feel your passion. I understand your position,” Higgins said on the floor. “But you’re about to go too far. Just calm down and step back.”

Whether Santos will be expelled is unclear, although he has said that he expected the vote would succeed. To do so would require a two-thirds supermajority, necessitating significant bipartisan consensus in a chamber that is close to evenly split between Democrats and Republicans.

But House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Wednesday that there was significant debate within his party on how to proceed, adding that he was among those who were concerned over the precedent that might be set on expelling Santos while his criminal case remained unresolved.

Santos held a news conference Thursday morning in which he warned such a precedent would “haunt” lawmakers in the future. He called the expulsion vote “theater for the American people at the expense of the American people.” Later that day, he told reporters he was “oddly calm,” planned to write a book and had not ruled out appearing on a television show such as “Dancing With the Stars.”

This article originally appeared in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/11/30/nyregion/george-santos-expulsion-ethics/santos-expulsion-debate-vote">The New York Times</a>.