As Jazz pointed out earlier, we were promised a vote on the expulsion of George Santos from the House today. This afternoon we finally got it and the outcome is that Santos will not be expelled, at least not yet.
A Republican-led effort to expel Representative George Santos of New York failed on Wednesday night, after a group of lawmakers from Mr. Santos’s home state could not persuade enough of their colleagues that his admitted lies and federal indictment were sufficient grounds to oust him.
Even as House members condemned Mr. Santos for lying to voters and donors about his biography and résumé and apparently falsifying ties to the Holocaust and Sept. 11, many said that expelling him now — nearly a year before his trial is even set to begin — would set a dangerous precedent…
Representative Kelly Armstrong, a Republican from North Dakota who is a former public defender, had predicted the expulsion of Mr. Santos would fail over due-process concerns.
“What’s the point of having the Ethics Committee, if you don’t let them do their work?” Mr. Armstrong said hours before the vote. He added that he believed Mr. Santos should resign, but absent a decision from the “Ethics Committee or a conviction, it turns into a political vote. It’s a very serious step for 750,000 people to have no representation.”
Maybe there is a principled argument for keeping this guy, at least until there’s a conviction to hang this on. Still, I think I’m with Jazz on this one. Santos has already admitted to lying about so many things that he doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt. Legally he’s innocent until proven otherwise but this isn’t a case where I think the essential nature of the man’s character is in any doubt regardless of a conviction.
But okay, some people want to wait a couple more weeks to see what the Ethics Committee has to say. That’s fine so long as they are willing to do something if the committee’s findings are bad news.
Other Republicans said they first want to see how the House Ethics Committee handles the case before they decide Santos’ fate. The bipartisan panel said Tuesday it will announce the next steps in its investigation by Nov. 17. The committee has contacted roughly 40 witnesses, reviewed more than 170,000 pages of documents and authorized 37 subpoenas, its leaders said.
Freshman Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, R-N.Y., who authored the resolution, warned that he could force another vote to expel Santos after the Ethics Committee releases its findings.
“In two weeks, we will read the ethics report, and, you know, you don’t need to be a retired New York City detective to understand that the report is probably not going to be good, and we’ll go from there,” D’Esposito told reporters Wednesday.
Asked whether he might bring up the resolution again, he replied: “Absolutely.”
And if the expected bad news from the Ethics Committee still isn’t enough, Santos is scheduled for trial next September. He has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges.
Here’s a report on Santos’ speech before the vote, asking lawmakers not to expel him.
Update: This isn’t from Santos’ official House account but…is this his real personal account? Other people seem to think so but it’s just hard to believe this isn’t a parody account.
https://twitter.com/MrSantosNY/status/1719871192322969913
Read the full article here