Rep. George Santos (R-NY) faces the renewed prospect of being expelled from Congress, after a report from the House Ethics Committee concluded that he deceived donors, stole from his campaign and “sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal financial profit.”
The committee also unanimously recommended referral of the “substantial evidence” of potential criminal violations to the Justice Department.
Read the Ethics Committee report. Read the Ethics Committee investigative report.
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Santos blasted the bipartisan report, writing on X/Twitter, that it was “a disgusting politicized smear that shows the depths of how low our federal government has sunk. Everyone who participated in this grave miscarriage of Justice should all be ashamed of themselves.” He said that he would not seek reelection to his seat next year “as my family deserves better than to be under the gun from the press all the time.”
The chairman of the Ethics Committee, Rep. Michael Guest (R-MS), plans to file a motion on Friday to expel Santos, his office told reporters.
Before he was even sworn into Congress in January, Santos attracted widespread attention as revelations came to light of the fabrications of his resume and background. He already faces criminal charges, with the DOJ having filed an array of additional counts against him last month, including wire fraud and identity theft. He has pleaded not guilty.
The Ethics Investigative Subcommittee report concluded that Santos “cannot be trusted.”
“At nearly every opportunity, he placed his desire for private gain above his duty to uphold the Constitution, federal law, and ethical principles,” the report stated.
“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,” the report’s authors wrote.
Santos survived an expulsion vote earlier this month, as many members said they wanted to wait until the Ethics Committee released its findings. It takes 2/3 of the members of the House to expel a lawmakers from their ranks. The last member to be expelled was Rep. James Traficant (D-OH), who was expelled in 2002 after being convicted of taking bribes and other charges.
The report stated that members of Santos’ own campaign staff viewed him as a “fabulist,” “whose penchant for telling lies was so concerning that he was encouraged to seek treatment.”
Among other things, the report concluded that Santos falsely reported personal loans to his campaign and then received repayments via donations. Also cited were instances where Santos filed a list of false donors to the Federal Election Commission.
The investigation also pointed to the use of campaign funds, including the use of a campaign debit card for Botox, while other expenditures were for spa services. The report pointed to the use of funds from a company, RedStone, that was set up to support his candidacy. Instead, according to the investigation, RedStone money was used “to pay down personal credit card bills and other debt; make a $4,127.80 purchase at Hermes; and for smaller purchases at OnlyFans; Sephora; and for meals and for parking.”
“At least three individuals transferred funds to RedStone after being told the money would be used for political purposes, when in fact the funds were transferred to Representative Santos’ personal accounts,” according to the report. “Representative Santos furthered the scheme through lies and misrepresentations about the nature of his connection to RedStone, just as he had done with a predecessor company, Red Strategies.”