Matt Gaetz Urges Against Expelling George Santos – ‘Whoever He Is’

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) argued against expelling embattled Rep. George Santos (R-NY) from Congress on the House floor Thursday after an Ethics Committee investigation found he used campaign funds on Botox and OnlyFans.

A coalition of New York Republican representatives have joined together to urge their colleagues to vote to expel Santos. The freshman lawmaker faces multiple criminal charges on a range of crimes, including wire theft and conspiracy.

Gaetz claimed that expulsion should only be reserved for the most extreme offenders, such as lawmakers convicted of a crime or individuals who are actively rebelling against the United States. Moreover, Gaetz argued it would be hypocritical for lawmakers to expel Santos, but not Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), who recently pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for pulling a fire alarm in a House office building.

The Republican firebrand also noted that it was reasonable for Santos to not testify in front of the House Ethics Committee because it would have put him in a “procedural double bind”:

I do not believe that the Long Island crew is acting in bad faith, just exceedingly bad judgment. And here’s why. Since the beginning of this Congress, there’s only two ways you get expelled. You get convicted of a crime or you participated in the Civil War. Neither apply to George Santos.

And so I rise not to defend George Santos, whoever he is, but to defend the very precedent that my colleagues are willing to shatter. Now, let’s speak to due process. Mr. Santos hasn’t been convicted of anything, but we haven’t even moved to expel the people who have. Mr. Bowman pled guilty to a misdemeanor for his little fire alarm stunt weeks ago. So while the Ethics Committee is marching to throw George Santos out of Congress, they take no action as to someone who actually pled guilty to a crime.

What’s that all about? And then there’s all this talk about, ‘well, he could have come and testified to the Ethics Committee and he didn’t. So he had his due process.’ But that belies the fact that he faces a trial. And had Mr. Santos testified before the Ethics Committee, an argument could have been made that he waived any of his rights that he would have had at trial that any American would enjoy. So it was a procedural double bind that shouldn’t be held against Mr. Santos as some sort of adverse inference.

Watch the full clip above via CSPAN.