Key Points:
- Republican congressman George Santos has been ejected from the US house of Representatives.
- Santos has been accused of using campaign fund to fund his lavish lifestyle.
- 311 members of the House, including more than 100 Republicans, voted in favour of expelling Santos.
US lawmakers voted on Friday to expel New York Republican, George Santos from Congress after he was indicted on charges of bankrolling his lavish lifestyle with stolen donor cash. Santos is only the sixth member to be expelled from the House.
On the House floor on Thursday, Santos said: "I have been convicted of no crimes. The people of Third (Congressional) District of New York sent me here.
"If they want me out, they're going to have to go silence those people and take the hard vote."
Who is George Santos?
Santos was elected as the representative for New York’s 3rd Congressional District in November 2022.
However, shortly after his election, it quickly emerged that almost his entire backstory was a fabrication, from his education and religion to his personal history and professional experience.
Santos won New York's Third Congressional District seat in November 2022, which helped give the Republicans a narrow majority by 4 seats in the House of Representatives. Now that he's been expelled, there will be a special election to fill his seat. Source: Getty / Newsday LLC/Newsday via Getty Images
What has Santos been charged with?
Santos has been indicted on dozens of federal charges of stealing from campaign donors, credit card fraud, money laundering and identity theft.
A congressional ethics investigation found "overwhelming evidence" of misconduct and accused him of seeking to "fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy."
Santos, who has denied the charges, allegedly used donor money to pay for botox treatments, access to OnlyFans, as well as luxury Italian goods and vacations to the Hamptons and Las Vegas, according to the committee.
"You sir, are a crook," said Ohio's Max Miller, one of several members of Santos's own party to stand up on the House floor to denounce him in a debate on the expulsion on Thursday.
"My future former colleague is divorced from reality. He has manufactured his entire life," said Marc Molinaro, a fellow New York Republican, while another member from the state's delegation Anthony D'Esposito called Santos a "liar."
A two-thirds majority of the House was needed to expel him, and while two previous attempts failed, the House voted 311-114 to immediately remove him, above the two-thirds majority required.
Aside from the criminal allegations, Santos has become notorious for a series of bizarre fabrications, including claiming to have worked for Goldman Sachs, being Jewish and having been a college volleyball star.
Beyond accusing the ethics committee of a "smear campaign," he has not publicly addressed the accusations in any detail.
What happens now?
The Republicans currently hold only a majority by four seats in the House. Now that Santos has been expelled, there will be a special election in New York’s Third congressional district in the new year to fill Santos’ seat.
His expulsion reduces the Republicans' already slim majority to a 221-213 majority. His district, which includes parts of New York City and Long Island, is seen as competitive
Santos denies wrongdoing, and his trial is scheduled to begin on 9 September, shortly before the November elections that will determine control of the White House and both chambers of Congress.
"Since the beginning of Congress, there are only two ways you get expelled: You get convicted of a crime, or you participated in the Civil War. Neither apply to George Santos," Florida's Matt Gaetz said in a floor speech Thursday.
But Jay Jacobs, chairman of the New York Democratic Party, welcomed the closure of "a sorry chapter in the history of our county and our country," calling Santos's removal "a huge win for decency, honesty and the rule of law."
