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REMOVE FROM CONGRESS - Yesterday, six Republican Congressmembers filed a resolution to expel Rep. George Santos (R-NY) from the House just as federal prosecutors added ten charges to his indictment, related to more alleged fraudulent schemes to enrich himself.
Later the same day, Santos had a message for his Republican colleagues: Oust me and I’ll ruin your careers.
“I do want to remind my dear colleagues who all but one have deep long troubling careers in politics that I will have a lot of time on my hands to return the favor in the most expedient fashion mankind has ever seen,” he wrote menacingly. “I’m done with the hypocrisy and the projection coming from the same individuals for the last 10 months!”
“#PolitcalWarfare does not scare me, I find my strength in God and with him in my life all is possible.”
The reference to ten months came up again in a tweet he wrote several hours later where he said that Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA) – who House Republicans have chosen to succeed former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) – hasn’t called or talked to him for the past ten months.
“It’s just past 9:40pm and I have yet to hear from the Speaker-Designate,” Santos wrote. “So I’ve made my decision and after 10 months and having had 0 contact or outreach from him, I’ve come to the conclusion that my VOTE doesn’t matter to him.”
“I’m now declaring I’m an ANYONE but Scalise and come hell or high water I won’t change my mind.”
Republicans hold a very narrow majority in the House and Scalise can’t win a majority if more than four Republicans defect. Yesterday, Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Lauren Boebert (R-CO) said that they wouldn’t vote for Scalise and Republicans decided to delay the vote – originally scheduled for 3 p.m. yesterday – as they worked to get their caucus to vote for their nominee.
Several hours later at midnight, Santos tweeted, “#JimJordan for Speaker.” Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) is the potential speaker favored by many far-right House Republicans.
Six House Republicans introduced a resolution to expel Santos yesterday just after he was hit with 10 more federal charges related to allegedly using other people’s money to enrich himself.
“Today, I’ll be introducing an expulsion resolution to rid the People’s House of fraudster, George Santos,” Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) tweeted, adding that the resolution’s cosponsors will be fellow New York Republican Reps. Mike Lawler, Nick LaLota, Marc Molinaro, Nick Langworthy, and Brandon Williams.
The new charges added to Santos’s indictment by federal prosecutors in New York accuse him of fraudulently charging tens of thousands of dollars to his own donors’ credit cards, faking a $500,000 loan to his own campaign, and filing false campaign finance reports reflecting fake contributions from real people who didn’t give their permission.
While Santos didn’t specify what kind of due process, he believes he is owed during a possible vote to remove him from the House, it’s likely he believes that the House should only remove him after he has been convicted in a criminal court of law.
(Alex Bollinger has been working in LGBTQ media for over a decade and has a Masters degree from the Paris School of Economics. He lives in Paris with his partner. Follow @alexpbollinger on Twitter. This story was published in LGBTQ Nation.)
