House Republicans from New York trying to expel fellow New Yorker, U.S. Rep. George Santos, say they think they are close to getting the votes but need just one more: GOP Speaker Mike Johnson’s thumbs up to allow the vote.
In times past, a member of Congress getting criminally indicted on 23 felony charges might have elicited a resignation, or a suggestion from from their party’s leaders to resign, but Johnson quickly confirmed that like his predecessor, Speaker Kevin McCarthy, he has no intention of thinning his tiny majority and will not try to oust Santos.
“Here’s the reality,” Speaker Johnson told Fox News’ Sean Hannity last week. “We have a four-seat majority in the House, it is possible that number may be reduced even more in the coming weeks and months, and so we’ll have what may be the most razor thin majority in the history of the Congress. We have no margin for error.”
Over in the Senate, Democrats overwhelmingly have called for New Jersey Democrat Bob Menendez to resign after being criminally indicted, but he has refused to do so.
On Monday, CNN’s Manu Raju reported several House Republicans are pushing to expel Santos.
The Republicans “will need two thirds majority in the House to get their vote that could happen later this week. And in talking to those New York Republicans, they believe they are close to getting the votes they need to kick George Santos out of the House,” Raju reported.
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“I think we’re getting two-thirds,” U.S. Rep. Nick Lakota (R-NY) said. “There seems to be a good sentiment out there that enough is enough,” and adding, “I think that people have seen over the last ten months what a fraud he is.”
“So I think at this time, it is absolutely inappropriate for him to serve,” said U.S. Rep. Marcus Molinaro (R-NY). “I think there’s significant support certainly on both sides of the aisle. I understand hesitance but this is a clear case of an individual who used every every lie to mislead in order to attain the very office he holds.”
As Reuters reports, U.S. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) is elected to introduce a privileged motion to expel Santos this week that would have to be voted on within 48 hours. However, “Republican leaders could try to avoid an expulsion vote by moving to table the measure or refer it to a committee.”
Congressman Santos is charged “with one count of conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, two counts of wire fraud, two counts of making materially false statements to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), two counts of falsifying records submitted to obstruct the FEC, two counts of aggravated identity theft, and one count of access device fraud, in addition to the seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the United States House of Representatives,” according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
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