(USNewsBreak.com) – Since constituents elected Rep. George Santos (R-NY), the lawmaker has faced several scandals. Before his swearing-in, it came to light that the congressman had allegedly lied about many aspects of his life. Yet, after Santos joined the ranks of the House in January 2023, the scandals didn’t stop. In fact, they only escalated — to the point that both parties joined forces to expel him from Congress.
The Many, Many, Many Santos Scandals
From the moment Santos entered the spotlight, he provided scads of secrets for media outlets and others to discover. At first, it seemed he had simply lied about his work experience and college education. He also claimed Jewish ancestry, a lie he later played off as having said he was “Jew-ish.” Additionally, he claimed his mother died as a victim of the 9/11 attacks, but she didn’t reside in the US at the time.
From there, however, the lies descended into more serious matters. On May 10, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York announced it had indicted the representative on 13 counts related to money laundering, wire fraud, public funds theft, and making materially false statements to the House. Five months later, the Attorney’s Office revealed a superseding indictment, adding 10 more counts, including aggravated identity theft, lying to the Federal Election Commission, falsifying records, and access device fraud, for a whopping total of 23 counts.
In the midst of all of this, the House Ethics Committee took on the matter of investigating Santos. In November, it issued its report outlining “substantial evidence” of his federal law violations and illegal activity engagements.
Santos Expelled
On December 1, the House took the matter for another vote. This time, Santos wasn’t so lucky. Not only did most of the Democrats — two voted against, and another two voted “present” — cast their ballots to remove Santos, but so did 105 Republicans. In the end, in a rare move, House members removed him in a 311-114 tally. He is only the sixth person expelled in US history. Three occurred during the Civil War, and the other two in 1980 and 2002, respectively.
The House tried to expel him twice before, but when it went to the floor for a vote, his GOP colleagues, who wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt while the House Ethics Committee conducted its investigation, saved Santos. Once that report came out, however, it was game over.
Santos, no longer a member of Congress, still faces trial for the charges against him. He has pleaded not guilty to all of them and maintains his innocence. A special election will fill his empty seat, but the state of New York has yet to determine a date.
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