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After months of ridicule and humiliation, Rep. George Santos’ troubles reached an even more serious point last week. A week ago today, the New York Republican was indicted by the Justice Department and charged with a variety of crimes, including wire fraud, money laundering, and theft of public funds. Two days later, the GOP congressman, as part of an agreement with Brazilian prosecutors, confessed to theft.
Evidently, this week won’t be especially easy for Santos, either. NBC News reported:
Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia introduced a resolution Tuesday to expel indicted Republican Rep. George Santos from Congress. The resolution is privileged, meaning the Republican-controlled House must bring it up in the next two days.
The California congressman championing the measure told reporters that the purpose of the resolution is to “put Republicans on the record” in response to Santos’ latest legal troubles.
The good news for the freshman New York lawmaker is that the threshold for expulsion is quite high: While most House votes are majority rule, Garcia’s resolution will need a two-thirds majority to pass. That’s a high hurdle: If every House Democrat supports the measure, they’ll need roughly a third of the House Republican conference to go along in order to kick Santos out.
By most estimates, those votes probably won’t be there, but the fact that the resolution is coming to the floor anyway will put GOP lawmakers in the uncomfortable position of either voting to expel a scandal-plagued member of their own party, or voting to keep around a proven liar and an accused felon who last week confessed to theft.
Those aren’t great choices.
For their part, House Republican leaders — who need Santos’ vote and don’t seem especially eager to get rid of him — have not and will not endorse the expulsion resolution. That said, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy told reporters that he’d still prefer to let the House Ethics Committee deal with this.
“I would like to refer this to Ethics. I’ll have a conversation with Hakeem. I would like the ethics committee to move rapidly on this,” McCarthy said. “I think they could come back faster than a court case could.”
In case anyone needs a reminder, it was two months ago when the House Ethics Committee first announced that it would examine Santos’ scandals, but that process can take a long while. The House speaker seemed to suggest yesterday that he’s prepared to lean on the panel for some kind of expedited review.
If that sounds to you like a ploy to keep Republican members from voting for the expulsion resolution, you’re not alone.
GOP leaders have not yet scheduled the expulsion vote, but under House rules, it will need to happen by tomorrow. Watch this space.