Expelled: George Santos Ousted From Congress After Fraud Indictment and House Probe
GOP House Rep. George Santos was officially expelled from Congress this week.
GOP House Rep. George Santos was officially expelled from Congress, RadarOnline.com can report.
In a sudden development to come months after Santos, 35, was indicted on 23 federal fraud charges connected to his 2022 congressional campaign, the House voted 311-114 to oust him on Friday morning.
The House voted 311-114 to oust Santos on Friday morning.
According to the New York Post, the embattled GOP politician’s expulsion from Congress made him the sixth member to be ousted from the House in congressional history.
Santos appeared to “accept his fate” shortly before the vote was held, and he told Fox News that he was willing to leave his role as a New York House Rep. “graciously.”
“I believe that if it’s God’s will to keep me here, I will stay,” the ousted congressman said on Friday morning. “And if it is His will for me to leave, I will leave, and I will do so graciously.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who took over for Kevin McCarthy after he was ousted from the role in October, voted against Santos’ expulsion.
The embattled GOP politician’s expulsion from Congress this week made him the sixth member to be ousted from the House in congressional history.
Other GOP House members also opposed the indicted congressman’s expulsion, and some argued that canning Santos before a potential conviction would create a “dangerous precedent.”
“No Member of Congress has ever been expelled without a conviction,” House GOP Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik tweeted on Friday morning. “This is a dangerous precedent and I am voting no based upon my concerns regarding due process.”
Florida House Rep. Matt Gaetz also defended Santos ahead of the expulsion vote this week. Gaetz compared the federal indictment against Santos to the indictment recently filed against New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez.
“Whatever Mr. Santos did with Botox or OnlyFans is less concerning to me than the indictment against Senator Menendez, who is holding gold bars inscribed with Arabic on them from Egypt while he’s still getting classified briefings today,” Gaetz commented.
Santos was indicted on 23 federal fraud charges in May.
As RadarOnline.com reported, Santos was indicted on 23 federal charges in May in connection to suspected fraud that occurred during his 2022 run for Congress.
A House Ethics Committee investigation concluded last month that there was “substantial evidence” the Long Island GOP politician “violated federal criminal laws.”
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The congressional subcommittee found "a complex web of unlawful activity involving Representative Santos’ campaign, personal, and business finances.”
The subcommittee also found that Santos “sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal financial profit."
Santos is scheduled to face trial in connection to the federal indictments against him in September 2024.
"He blatantly stole from his campaign,” one section of the House panel’s 56-page report said. “He deceived donors into providing what they thought were contributions to his campaign but were in fact payments for his personal benefit.”
Santos announced on November 16 that he would not seek re-election next year. He is also scheduled to face trial in connection to the federal indictments against him in September 2024.
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