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Ethics Committee Report on George Santos Released: ‘Overwhelming Evidence’ of Misconduct
The long-awaited House Ethics Committee report on embattled and indicted U.S. Rep. George Santos (R-NY) has been released, containing “overwhelming evidence” of his misconduct.
“Representative Santos sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal financial profit,” it reads, as Politico’s Kyle Cheney reports.
“He blatantly stole from his campaign,” it continues. “He deceived donors into providing what they thought were contributions to his campaign but were in fact payments for his personal benefit. He reported fictitious loans to his political committees to induce donors and party committees to make further contributions to his campaign – and then diverted more campaign money to himself as purported ‘repayments’ of those fictitious loans. He used his connections to high value donors and other political campaigns to obtain additional funds for himself through fraudulent or otherwise questionable business dealings. And he sustained all of this through a constant series of lies to his constituents, donors, and staff about his background and experience.”
Every paragraph in the introduction of the Santos subcommittee report is increasingly damning pic.twitter.com/bM3TFE1jPd
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) November 16, 2023
The Ethics Committee’s report does recommend Santos be criminally referred to the Dept. of Justice.
NEW: The House Committee on Ethics, in recommending that Rep. Santos be criminally referred to DOJ, notes that their referral relates to alleged violations beyond those DOJ has already charged: pic.twitter.com/Lxk0hmQixN
— Lisa Rubin (@lawofruby) November 16, 2023
The report does not recommend his expulsion, the Republican Ethics Committee Chair says, claiming to do so would have taken more months for the report to be completed.
“We did not go through the longer process of coming forth and recommending sanctions because that would have taken several more months,” Chairman Michael Guest (R-MS) told reporters, Politico reported. “The information that we intend to release in the report, [we believe] that that will be enough for members to be able to make a decision as to whether or not they believe it would be proper to expel Rep. Santos.”
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Chairman Guest says he expects the report will trigger another vote to expel Santos, but the report is being released as the House heads home for the Thanksgiving holidays, and will not return until Tuesday, November 28.
Even then, it’s unlikely Speaker Mike Johnson will prioritize a vote to expel a member of his own caucus, given his razor-slim majority, exemplified by having to rely on more Democrats (209) than Republicans (127) to pass his legislation to avert a government shutdown.
Congressman Santos is also facing 23 federal felony counts, including wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds, and lying to Congress.
According to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, those charges include, “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.”
United States Attorney Breon Peace said: “As alleged, Santos is charged with stealing people’s identities and making charges on his own donors’ credit cards without their authorization, lying to the FEC and, by extension, the public about the financial state of his campaign. Santos falsely inflated the campaign’s reported receipts with non-existent loans and contributions that were either fabricated or stolen.”
The federal charges don’t include all the falsehoods and lies Santos told during his two attempts to get elected to Congress. Last month, NEW YORK magazine detailed what it described as “Every Single Lie Told by George Santos.”
On Wednesday, CNN’s Manu Raju asked Santos about the Ethics Committee’s impending report.
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“I’m staying in office for sure,” he said.
Santos added, “I will take whatever comes my way the way it comes. I have no concerns, and I don’t have any premeditated feelings on this.”
See the social media posts above and watch Santos’ remarks below or all at this link.
George Santos, who was talking with Speaker Johnson on floor today, said it wasn’t about the ethics report into his conduct expected to be released tomorrow.
Asked him about his concerns about findings: “I will take whatever comes my way the way it comes. I have no concerns” pic.twitter.com/gTuUN1FSof— Manu Raju (@mkraju) November 15, 2023
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The House Ethics Committee has reportedly announced that U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) is facing a review by the Office of Congressional Conduct.
The origin of the review was not been disclosed. Under committee rules, officials are prohibited from stating whether the matter constitutes a formal investigation or identifying its underlying cause. The Committee only stated that there is a “matter regarding Representative Nancy Mace.”
“The Committee notes that the mere fact of a referral or an extension, and the mandatory disclosure of such an extension and the name of the subject of the matter, does not itself indicate that any violation has occurred, or reflect any judgment on behalf of the Committee,” the Ethics Committee statement reads. It was posted to social media by congressional journalist Jamie Dupree.
The statement also says the committee will “announce its course of action in this matter on or before March 2, 2026.”
Congresswoman Mace is currently running for governor of South Carolina.
Earlier this month Mace warned that Republicans may lose control of the House, saying they have not “done enough” and could “do a lot more” to implement President Donald Trump’s agenda, The Hill reported.
Image via Shutterstock
A prominent Republican lawmaker is vowing to thwart any attempt by President Donald Trump to acquire Greenland through force or financial means.
Speaking from Copenhagen as part of a bipartisan delegation of U.S. congressional lawmakers, U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), told reporters it is “an important message for the people of the Kingdom of Denmark to understand” that the United States has “three separate but equal branches” of government.
Reminding them that under the U.S. Constitution it is Congress that controls spending, Senator Murkowski, who has broken ranks and stood up to President Trump at times, said, “In Congress, we have tools at our disposal under our constitutional authority that speaks specifically to the power of the purse through appropriations.”
She noted also that “Congress has a role. Certainly, when it comes to spending authorities, the Congress has a role in basically helping to facilitate the message that comes from our constituents, to be reflected in whether it’s legislation or appropriations, or actions or measures, that can indicate, again, the will of the Congress.”
READ MORE: Trump Dangles Another Insurrection Act Threat for Minnesota
The “vast majority” of Americans do not support the acquisition of Greenland, Senator Murkowski added, noting that “some 75 percent will say we do not think that that is a good idea.”
“Greenland needs to be viewed as our ally, not as an asset,” Murkowski also told reporters.
Politico reported that U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) “also took part in the visit by House and Senate lawmakers,” and “said he would push ahead with legislation to curb Trump’s power to act unilaterally.”
He also denied President Trump’s claims that Greenland is necessary to be owned by the U.S. for national security reasons.
“Are there real, pressing threats to the security of Greenland from China and Russia?” Coons said. “No, not today.”
Sen. Murkowski: “When you ask the American people whether or not they think it is a good idea for the United States to acquire Greenland, the vast majority, some 75%, will say, we do not think that that is a good idea. This senator from Alaska does not think it is a good idea.” pic.twitter.com/zfitY31LyF
— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) January 16, 2026
READ MORE: With Shutdown Looming and Crises Growing Trump Heads Off for Long Mar-a-Lago Weekend
Image via Reuters
Just one day after threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota, which would allow him to unleash domestic military forces onto American streets, President Donald Trump once again on Friday hinted he would do so while suggesting he may be “forced” to take action.
Trump targeted Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, both Democrats, claiming they “don’t know what to do” after he deployed roughly 3,000 federal troops to the city.
“In Minnesota,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, “the Troublemakers, Agitators, and Insurrectionists are, in many cases, highly paid professionals.”
“The Governor and Mayor don’t know what to do, they have totally lost control, and our currently being rendered, USELESS! If, and when, I am forced to act, it will be solved, QUICKLY and EFFECTIVELY!”
The Guardian labeled Trump’s claims that protesters are paid as baseless.
Attorney Aaron Reichlin-Melnick wrote: “Note that the Trump admin hasn’t yet been able to produce evidence of a SINGLE ‘paid protestor.’ They’ve had total control of the FBI and the DOJ and ICE HSI and yet despite all of that, they can’t even find ONE person who they can accuse of being paid to protest.”
Separately, The Steady State, a group of over 365 former national security officials, while not referring to Trump’s remarks from Friday morning, noted that the Insurrection Act is “an extraordinary power meant for true emergencies, not a shield for unconstitutional policing. Using it to silence dissent or justify unlawful paramilitary activity at the hand of ICE undermines the rule of law.”
READ MORE: With Shutdown Looming and Crises Growing Trump Heads Off for Long Mar-a-Lago Weekend
Image via Reuters
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