George Santos on Wednesday night thanked his House colleagues for voting against a motion
The House voted handily against a resolution to expel Rep. George Santos on Wednesday, two weeks before the release of an investigation by the Ethics Committee.
The final vote was 213 against Santos’ expulsion, 179 in favor and 19 voted present.
More Democrats voted to keep Santos than Republicans to get rid of him: 24 Republicans voted to expel Santos while 31 Democrats, including top Oversight Democrat Rep. Jamie Raskin, crossed over and voted not to oust the New York Republican.
Four Republicans and 15 Democrats voted present on the measure.
In order to oust Santos, two-thirds of the House would have had to vote to expel the congressman.
The House Ethics Committee said Tuesday it plans to announce the ‘next course of action’ in its investigation into Santos on or before November 17. Investigators have contacted 40 witnesses, reviewed more than 170,000 pages of documents and authorized 37 subpoenas.
The House voted handily against a resolution to expel Rep. George Santos on Wednesday, two weeks the release of an investigation by the Ethics Committee in two weeks
The final vote was 213 against Santos’ expulsion, 179 in favor and 19 voted present. Some Democrats crossed over and voted with the GOP not to oust the New York Republican
The measure was put forth by his own party, Republicans from New York who have long insisted the Long Island liar is unfit for office.
Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, R-N.Y., together with Reps. Nick Lalota, Mike Lawler, Marc Molinaro and Brandon Williams introduced the privileged resolution.
Santos, defending himself on the House floor during debate on the resolution, argued Congress must consider him innocent until proven guilty.
The 35-year-old New York Republican called expelling him ‘unconscionable and reckless to the republican system of government and integrity of this body.’
‘One can’t say they are pro-Constitution and at the same time act as judge, jury and executioner,’ he added.
With only a four-vote majority and a free-wheeling conference, Santos’ vote remains crucial to the GOP agenda. Speaker Mike Johnson said last week he does not support removing Santos without any convictions.
‘We have no margin for error,’ Johnson told Fox News in an interview last week. ‘And so, George Santos is due due process, right?’
Santos is not only not resigning but currently says he is running for re-election next year. He faces 23 felony counts of crimes that include wire fraud, credit card fraud, aggravated identity theft and falsifying records.
Recently Santos pled not guilty to a slew of theft and fraud charges.
One case includes bombshell allegations that he embezzled cash from his company and conspired with his former treasurer to hit fundraising targets by falsifying donations.
Santos, who embellished huge parts of his resume in his run for Congress, has denied all the charges.
He had already pleaded not guilty to the previous slate of charges accusing him of lying to Congress about his wealth, applying for and receiving unemployment benefits even though he had a job, and using campaign contributions to pay for personal expenses like designer clothing.
Santos has been free on bail while he awaits trial.
He has denied any serious wrongdoing and blamed irregularities in his government regulatory filings on his former campaign treasurer, who he claims “went rogue.”
However, the former treasurer, who pled guilty to fraud, claims she helped Santos trick Republican party officials into supporting his run for office in 2022 through bogus Federal Election Committee filings.
Those filings made him look richer than he really was by listing an imaginary $500,000 loan, she has claimed.
During his successful 2022 run for office, Santos was buoyed by an uplifting life story that was later revealed to be rife with fabrications.
Among other things, he never worked for the major Wall Street investment firms where he claimed to have been employed.
He did not go to the college where he claimed to have been a star volleyball player, and misled people about having Jewish heritage.
