New York Republican Rep. George Santos was expelled from the House of Representatives Friday morning due to an ethics violation that included fraud, lies regarding his education and misuse of campaign funds, according to the New York Times.
A controversial figure since his campaign for office, Santos had gained national attention for lying about a multitude of facts — some essential to his campaign — including saying that he was Jewish (while campaigning in a very Jewish district) and was the descendant of Holocaust survivors, that he had attended Baruch College and that that his mother had worked in the Twin Towers and survived 9/11.
Santos became the first representative in over two decades to be expelled from the House and is only the sixth in history after the vote, which required a two-thirds majority to pass. More than one hundred members of his own party voted for his removal.
A notable exception from this Republican vote to expel was Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, who earned a rebuke for doing so from Republican freshman Rep. Max Miller. Moments before the vote, Miller announced to the legislature that Santos had personally defrauded him and his mother.
“Mr. Santos took, not only my credit card personally, he took my mother’s credit card personally and he swiped them both for an additional $5,000, marking it as an over donation,” Miller said. “I had to hire an attorney to fight it by the FEC that I think cost me 15 or $20,000. Altogether, this man has cost my family $30,000.”
Previous attempts to remove Santos were unsuccessful.
A House Ethics investigation released Nov. 9 found evidence that Santos was exploiting his candidacy for personal profit. The report revealed that he used campaign funds for credit card payments, botox and OnlyFans.
The ethics investigation found that Santos’ claim that he graduated with an MBA from New York University and a bachelor’s degree from Baruch College could not be verified by either institution. Additionally, the report found that he was spending campaign money on personal vacations and that he owed thousands of dollars to creditors.
Santos has pleaded not guilty to 23 federal charges which include Covid-19 unemployment benefits fraud and lying on House disclosure reports. His former campaign fundraiser did plead guilty two weeks ago to a federal wire fraud charge.
Despite his expulsion, Santos has not been convicted of a felony which leaves him still eligible for the privileges of a former member of Congress, including access to the House floor.
Meanwhile, the vacancy leaves the House Clerk in charge of Santos’s office while New York Gov. Kathy Hochul schedules a special election to fill the seat. New York Law states the governor must proclaim an election within 10 days and the election must happen shortly thereafter.
Gov. Hochul posted to X, formerly Twitter, after the vote, and said that she would take the “solemn” responsibility of filling Santos’ vacancy. “The people of Long Island deserve nothing less,” said Hochul.
Santos is the first member of Congress to be expelled without being convicted of a felony since the Civil War, when three men were expelled for fighting the Confederacy. Since then, only two representatives have been expelled from Congress, both convicted of bribery.
After the vote, Santos left the chamber and walked to a car, during which he told reporters that he had no intention of staying near the House.
“Why would I want to stay here?” he said. “To hell with this place.”