A bad report from the House Ethics Committee could mean the end of embattled New York Republican Rep. George Santos' tenure in Congress.
Politico reported Tuesday that several House Republicans may join Democrats in seeking the expulsion of the freshman lawmaker if an Ethics Committee report reveals "damning" information tied to his alleged lies and possible criminal activities during the 2022 election.
"He'll be out," Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., who had previously voted for his ouster, told Politico. "If he is found guilty by Ethics, he's gone."
The committee announced an investigation into Santos in June regarding alleged "unlawful activity with respect to his 2022 congressional campaign; failed to properly disclose required information on statements filed with the House; violated federal conflict of interest laws in connection with his role in a firm providing fiduciary services; and/or engaged in sexual misconduct towards an individual seeking employment in his congressional office."
The congressman was indicted on federal criminal charges May 9 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the committee said in a June press release.
ABC News reported earlier this month that the beleaguered congressman has already avoided a 179-213 vote to kick him out pending the ethics report.
"I feel like due process is still alive," Santos said in the report. "I feel like there's enough colleagues on both sides of the aisle here who understand that."
According to Politico, it is New York GOP members that appear to be pushing the hardest to remove him from the chamber, which would make him the second member to be removed in the last two decades.
Ohio Democrat Rep. James Traficant was voted out of the body in 2002 after being convicted of 10 charges, including bribery, the report said.
"Let them do it," Santos told Politico. "If they don't have a conviction and they don't have anything damning coming out of Ethics, and they still push that, the norm stands … that we're creating a dangerous precedent."
According to the report, the committee issued 37 subpoenas, reached out to some 40 witnesses, and reviewed 170,000 pages of documents probing the case.
Newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told the news outlet that expelling members of Congress without a criminal conviction is a "problem."
"He is not convicted. He is charged," Johnson told Fox News' Sean Hannity in late October. "If we're going to expel people from Congress just because they are charged with a crime or accused, that's a problem."
Charles Kim ✉
Charles Kim, a Newsmax general assignment writer, is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years in reporting on news and politics.
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