The House on Wednesday killed a measure to expel Rep. George Santos, the embattled New York Republican who faces 23 federal counts including wire fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds.
The rare move to expel a member of Congress requires a two-thirds majority vote. Lawmakers voted 213 to 179 against throwing out the freshman lawmaker.
Mr. Santos survived thanks to 182 Republicans and 31 Democrats, many of whom argued he had not been convicted of any crimes.
The effort to expel Mr. Santos was led by a handful of New York Republican lawmakers: Reps. Anthony D’Esposito, Brandon Williams, Mike Lawler, Nick LaLota and Marc Molinaro. Their expulsion resolution declared that “George Santos is not fit to serve.”
It cites the criminal charges pending against Mr. Santos, his admitted lies about his background and his “history of misrepresenting his and his family’s connections to major events, including the Holocaust, Sept. 11th terrorist attacks, and the Pulse nightclub shooting.”
Mr. Santos, who has routinely said he deserves his day in court, argued on the House floor ahead of the vote that it would be unprecedented for the House to remove a lawmaker who was not convicted of a crime.
“We cannot speak out of both sides of our mouth to uphold the principles of the Constitution while simultaneously trampling on the principles that underpin our fundamental rights granted by the Constitution,” Mr. Santos said.
New York Republican lawmakers excoriated Mr. Santos calling him a “stain” on the House of Representatives and “embarrassing” for public office.
“Since he was elected in November 2022, we have learned about practice lies, deceptions, and 23 charges against Mr. Santos,” Mr. D’Esposito said. “It’s in the best interest of the constituents of New York 23 and all Americans that he’s expelled from the House of Representatives.”
Mr. LaLota suggested that expulsion should be the norm going forward for any member who is elected on lies told to attract voters.
“The consequences in the precedent of not expelling George Santos for his lies and fraud has the potential to cause far more damage to this institution,” Mr. Lalota said.
Mr. Santos last week was hit with ten new federal charges from a superseding indictment in his federal fraud case, on top of 13 charges from last May. He is charged with wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds, and lying to Congress.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
House Republican leaders did not favor expulsion. They fear losing a single additional vote before the upcoming 2024 election.
Republicans who voted against the measure sided with Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican.
“George Santos is due his due process … and we have to allow the process to play itself out,” Mr. Johnson told Fox News.
Mr. D’Esposito and his fellow New York Republicans were not the first lawmakers to bring up an expulsion measure against Mr. Santos.
Rep. Robert Garcia, California Democrat, raised a privileged resolution to expel Mr. Santos last May. The House’s GOP majority instead voted to send the resolution to the ethics committee.
Mr. D’Esposito and other co-sponsors voted at the time with the rest of the GOP to spare Mr. Santos expulsion.
Rep. Dan Goldman, New York Democrat, accused the Republicans in his state delegation Wednesday of playing politics and of proposing the latest censure to save themselves in the 2024 re-election.
The House has expelled just two members in recent decades — Rep. Michael J. “Ozzie” Myers, Pennsylvania Democrat, in 1980, and Rep. James Traficant, Ohio Democrat, in 2002.
Both expulsions occurred after the lawmaker had been convicted on federal charges and came in overwhelming and bipartisan votes.
Several other lawmakers have resigned rather than risk expulsion after indictments or convictions.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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