Rep. George Santos (R-NY), who faces a broad array of criminal and unethical allegations, is now living on borrowed time in terms of being a formally elected and seated member of Congress.
Santos will soon face an expulsion resolution and a "growing number" of Democratic and Republican lawmakers who previously voted against expelling the controversial New York Republican have now said they are prepared to oust him from the House, according to The Hill.
The embattled congressman has already survived two prior efforts to expel him that fell short of the two-thirds majority threshold. Still, his removal seems all but certain now following the release of a damning report from the bipartisan House Ethics Committee.
The House Ethics Committee on Thursday released a summary report -- accompanied by a more in-depth appendix -- that laid out the "substantial evidence" of alleged wrongdoing by Rep. Santos that had been uncovered since the committee first launched its investigation of the freshman representative in March.
The allegations include multiple fraudulent acts, including filing false reports with the House and other federal agencies, misusing campaign funds, violating ethics requirements, and being generally deceptive and dishonest with his colleagues, donors, and the general public, among other things.
That report followed the issuance of a superseding federal indictment issued against Santos last month that charged him with 23 various criminal counts, including conspiracy, multiple types of fraud, filing false reports, making false statements, identity theft, and money laundering, among other things.
The Ethics Committee report and federal indictment stemmed from allegations in media reports that arose during Rep. Santos' successful campaign to be elected to Congress during the 2022 campaign, which as noted by The Hill had already resulted in two unsuccessful attempts to expel him from the House -- the first in May and the second in early November.
More than two dozen Democrats voted against expelling Santos in those prior votes, in large part due to concerns about "due process" and a desire to allow the committee's probe to conclude. Now, however, following the release of the committee's report, several of those members have stated publicly that they are prepared to vote for the removal of Santos from Congress.
Further, in addition to the roughly two dozen GOP members who previously voted to oust Santos, a CNN reporter noted that at least a dozen more have now signaled that they intend to vote "Yes" on the expulsion of the controversial congressman.
All of them will soon get the chance to do so, likely after the Thanksgiving recess, according to an NBC News report about a formal expulsion resolution filed on Friday by House Ethics Committee Chair Michael Guest (R-MS).
"The evidence uncovered in the Ethics Committee’s Investigative Subcommittee investigation is more than sufficient to warrant punishment and the most appropriate punishment, is expulsion," the chairman said in a statement. "So, separate from the Committee process and my role as Chairman, I have filed an expulsion resolution."
In response to the committee's report, Rep. Santos posted a rant on social media Thursday morning that railed against Congress and the committee and the "disgusting politicized smear" campaign that had been waged against him, and though he vowed to continue fighting back he nonetheless also announced that he would not seek re-election in 2024.
He followed that up with another tweet Thursday evening that raged over the "Hell" he and his family had been subjected to by the "dirty" congressional committee that he accused of being "biased" with the report that was intended to "poison" the jury pool amid the federal charges against him.
Santos concluded by announcing that he would hold a press conference on the steps of the Capitol building on the morning of Nov. 30, and though he declined to specify what that press conference would be about, he added, "I encourage ALL members of the press to attend."
