Democrat Introduces Resolution to Expel George Santos from House of Representatives

Photo: Andrew Harnik, AP

Congressman Robert Garcia (D-CA) introduced a resolution to expel Congressman George Santos (R-NY) from the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

In a statement, Garcia argued that “George Santos is a fraud and a liar, and he needs to be expelled by the House.”

“Republicans now have a chance to demonstrate to Americans that an admitted criminal should not serve in the House of Representatives,” he added.

Santos surrendered to authorities in New York after the Department of Justice released a 13-count indictment for wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds, and making false statements to the U.S. House of Representatives last week.

Breon Peace, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York summarized the charges against Santos in a statement:

Taken together, the allegations in the indictment charge Santos with relying on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself. He used political contributions to line his pockets, unlawfully applied for unemployment benefits that should have gone to New Yorkers who had lost their jobs due to the pandemic, and lied to the House of Representatives.

My Office and our law enforcement partners will continue to aggressively root out corruption and self-dealing from our community’s public institutions and hold public officials accountable to the constituents who elected.

Santos characterized those same charges as being a part of “a witch hunt” and refused calls for him to resign from his position, even going so far as to predict that he’d “be the chair of a committee in a couple of years.”

Even before Santos ran into legal trouble, he faced calls for his resignation after it was revealed that he had lied about almost every aspect of his personal and professional life during his congressional campaign.

As a candidate, Santos claimed to be the descendant of Holocaust survivors, an ex-employee of Goldman Sachs, and a college volleyball star despite never having been any of them. He also lied about his mother surviving “the tragic events” on September 11, 2001.

Several House Republicans called for Santos’s resignation last week after his indictment.