WASHINGTON — House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest, R-Miss., filed a resolution Friday morning to expel Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., from Congress.
The resolution comes a day after the committee released a scathing report that concluded there is “substantial evidence” Santos “violated federal criminal laws,” including using campaign funds for personal purposes and filing false campaign reports.
“The evidence uncovered in the Ethics Committee’s Investigative Subcommittee investigation is more than sufficient to warrant punishment and the most appropriate punishment, is expulsion,” Guest said in a statement Friday. “So, separate from the Committee process and my role as Chairman, I have filed an expulsion resolution.”
Santos is “not fit to serve as a Member of the United States House of Representatives” due to “his egregious violations,” the resolution says.
If Guest wants to force a vote on his resolution within two legislative days, he will have to wait until the House returns after the Thanksgiving recess. The earliest a vote could be held on expulsion would be after House lawmakers return to Washington on Nov. 28.
After the release of the Ethics report, Santos announced Thursday that he would not seek re-election next year.
The Ethics panel found a number of suspicious campaign expenditures it said did not appear to have a “campaign nexus,” according to the report. The committee’s report detailed spending by Santos at Hermès and Ferragamo stores and on an Airbnb while Santos was on a Hamptons weekend getaway, Botox treatments and OnlyFans, a subscription-based site often used to host pornography.
Earlier this month, Santos survived an effort to expel him from Congress: 179 members voted in favor of expulsion and 213 against, and 19 voted present. Two-thirds of lawmakers are needed to remove him from the House.
Lawmakers had said that they wanted to wait for the Ethics Committee to release a report on its investigation into Santos.