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JUST IN: House votes to expel Santos from Congress

The House has voted to expel New York Republican Rep. George Santos over ethics violations, making him only the sixth lawmaker ever to be kicked out of the chamber.

The resolution required a two-thirds majority vote to succeed. House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that 311 members of the House voted to expel Santos, which included 105 Republicans. Another 114 voted against the expulsion, with two members recording them selves "present."

All four top House GOP leaders, including Johnson, voted to keep Santos in Congress.

Santos is the first member of Congress to be expelled since the Civil War who wasn’t first convicted of a felony.

What happens next: According to a former House parliamentarian, an expulsion is administratively handled the same way as a vacancy, including death or resignation. The House clerk assumes control of the office and makes decisions on behalf of that office. They will decide how Santos’ office is cleared out, among other steps. His district office remains intact for constituent needs.

The chamber's clerk will inform the governor of New York that there is now a vacancy in the third district of New York. It is then up to Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul to schedule a special election to replace him.

New York Gov. Hochul says she’s prepared to fill the vacancy left by the expulsion of Santos

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday she is prepared to fill the vacancy left in the wake of the expulsion of George Santos from the House, in a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

"“I am prepared to undertake the solemn responsibility of filling the vacancy in New York’s 3rd District. The people of Long Island deserve nothing less,” Hochul posted."

New York State law stipulates that the governor make a proclamation of a special election within 10 days, with an election occurring “not less than seventy nor more than eighty days” following the proclamation.

Here's what is expected to happen next to Santos' House seat after he was expelled from Congress

With the House vote to expel New York GOP Rep. George Santos from the chamber, a series of steps are now expected to take place in the chamber and his state:

In Congress: According to a former House Parliamentarian, an expulsion is administratively handled the same way as a vacancy, including death or resignation. The House Clerk assumes control of the office and makes decisions on behalf of that office. They will decide how Santos’ office is cleared out, among other steps. His district office remains intact for constituent needs.

In New York: The House Clerk will inform the governor of New York that there is now a vacancy in the third district of New York. It is then up to Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul to schedule a special election to replace him. New York State law stipulates that the governor make a proclamation of a special election within ten days, with an election occurring “not less than seventy nor more than eighty days” following the proclamation.

However: There is some fungibility. Following the resignation of Rep. Tom Reed, neither the 10 day nor the 70-80 day parameters were followed in scheduling a special election. Additionally, the House – and New York – are expecting a second House vacancy with the upcoming resignation of Rep. Brian Higgins, who announced he would step down in February, and Hochul could opt to pair those special elections at the same time.

Santos retains certain privileges: Unlike previous modern day expulsions – Michael Myers in 1980 and Jim Traficant in 2002 – Santos has not been convicted of a felony. House Rules stipulate that until there is a conviction, Santos retains the privileges as a now-former member of Congress, including access to the House floor, dining room, gym and cloakroom but not security.

The expulsion resolution could have stripped Santos of those privileges ahead of his conviction, but there is no clause in the motion to do that. Both Traficant’s and Myer’s privileges were stripped immediately following the expulsion vote because they had previously been convicted of their crimes.

But that could change: The House makes rules changes all the time regarding privileges for former members. Privileges were stripped for former members during Covid-19 pandemic, and floor privileges are usually restricted for former members for the State of the Union address. Should Santos 1) be expelled; and 2) continue to exercise the privileges as a former member, we expect that a rules change would come to address that issue.

Remember: Apart from the Ethics Committee investigation, Santos has also pleaded not guilty to 23 federal charges, including allegations of fraud related to Covid-19 unemployment benefits, misusing campaign funds and lying about his personal finances on House disclosure reports.

GOP Rep. Miller accuses Santos of stealing money from him and his mother

Rep. Max Miller, a GOP freshman from Ohio, accused Rep. George Santos of stealing money from him and his mother, and attacked Speaker Mike Johnson for opposing Santos’ expulsion.

“I think leadership — this is just another example of Republicans who can't lead. And that's a really shameful. You know, the speaker and everyone in leadership knows that this man is a crook,” Miller said.

He accused Santos of using his and his mother’s credit card information to steal $5,000 from each of them, and marking them as an over donation.

“In January, I got an FEC Complaint because of an over donation to George Santos, and I'll explain why. I’m Jewish, my family's Jewish and they were donors and they like to give money to people who are Jewish, who are Republicans, because that's who we are,” he said.

“And Mr. Santos took, not only my credit card personally, he took my mother's credit card personally and he swiped them both for an additional $5,000, marking it as an over donation. And I have it by the FEC, and I have the document in my office. And what I can tell you is within that document — I won't disclose any other names — but he defrauded over 350 people for hundreds of 1000s of dollars under undisclosed amounts, and I had to hire an attorney to fight it by the FEC that I think cost me 15 or $20,000. Altogether, this man has cost my family $30,000.”

Santos’ office did not respond to a CNN request for comment on the allegation and CNN has reached out to Johnson’s office for comment.

George Santos after House expels him: "To hell with this place"

GOP Rep. George Santos told CNN after the House voted to expel him that "it’s over."

“The House spoke, that’s their vote. They just set new dangerous precedent for themselves,” he added.

When asked if he would still stay and use nonmember privileges because he is not convicted, Santos said, "Why would I want to stay here? To hell with this place.”

Pressed if he knew this was how it was going to go, Santos said, "I had no skin in the game."

And then he said, "You know what? As unofficially no longer a member of Congress, I no longer have to answer your questions."

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/george-santos-expulsion-vote-12-1-23/index.html

https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-n...-1-23/h_e3b18fb9318e0b0c07ac26d335118a65

34 min ago
GOP Rep. Miller accuses Santos of stealing money from him and his mother
From CNN's Morgan Rimmer, Manu Raju and Haley Talbot


Rep. Max Miller, a GOP freshman from Ohio, accused Rep. George Santos of stealing money from him and his mother, and attacked Speaker Mike Johnson for opposing Santos’ expulsion.

“I think leadership — this is just another example of Republicans who can't lead. And that's a really shameful. You know, the speaker and everyone in leadership knows that this man is a crook,” Miller said.

He accused the New York Republican of using his and his mother’s credit card information to steal $5,000 from each of them, and marking them as an over donation.

“In January, I got an FEC Complaint because of an over donation to George Santos, and I'll explain why. I’m Jewish, my family's Jewish and they were donors and they like to give money to people who are Jewish, who are Republicans, because that's who we are,” he said.

“And Mr. Santos took, not only my credit card personally, he took my mother's credit card personally and he swiped them both for an additional $5,000, marking it as an over donation. And I have it by the FEC, and I have the document in my office. And what I can tell you is within that document — I won't disclose any other names — but he defrauded over 350 people for hundreds of 1000s of dollars under undisclosed amounts, and I had to hire an attorney to fight it by the FEC that I think cost me 15 or $20,000. Altogether, this man has cost my family $30,000.”

Santos’ office did not respond to a CNN request for comment on the allegation and CNN has reached out to Johnson’s office for comment.

There is a real lack of Character in the Republican house leadership. Some folks say this Santos thing is a problem for the Right in the next election. I think the real problem is with their leadership...

I think some of the "the folks" saying that don't even believe it themselves. This is an outlier. It's an isolated case. Not saying that most politicians don't have a few skeletons in their closet but this guy has lied to the voters about everything from day one. He portrayed himself as a man that doesn't exist. They didn't vote for Santos, they voted for someone that is nothing like who Santos actually is in every way. He has engaged in conduct on a regular basis like nothing I've seen. Even trump doesn't lie this much and that's saying something. He's certainly not the only one that I believe shouldn't be in congress. Democrat Bob Menendez is as crooked as they come and should not hold a seat in congress either.

j/c

In all honesty I didn't think they would expel Santos. It's for one basic reason.

After expelling a man Santos from the House who is facing 23 criminal counts, how will they spin that they are supporting a man for president, trump who is facing 91 criminal counts?

He's right.

They did set a precedent.

A good one...for once...

To hell with him.

or just a total lack OF leadership.

Maybe the GOP is slowly waking up.

I thought about that. And I think it comes down to being shameless. What I mean by that is they will find a way to justify throwing Santos out while still supporting Trump. Not sure how they get that done, but you watch, it will happen.

Looks like Santos is out for some payback-he says he has dirt on fellow lawmakers and is going to start spilling the tea-including filing 4 ethics complaints on Monday.

I am sure there is shady stuff on "most" on Both sides of the aisles-but I bet he can file all he wants-nothing will happen

The problem with that is Santos has done nothing but lie with almost every word he has uttered. Which makes it hard to believe him this time.

Which is odd because many in the GOP worship at the feet of a known liar. I guess they can look the other way when it comes to national security risks like holding classified documents in a bathroom and lying about having them. Minor stuff like that pales as compared to saying you went to college someplace you didn’t.


(PURPLE)

I brought up something similar in another thread. How can they expel a man who is currently facing 23 criminal counts and lies all the time while supporting a man who is facing 91 criminal counts and lies all the time?

Well, the one lesson we can take from this is that GOPers can still reason their way to seeing when a total POS has been elected, and that they are capable of doing the right thing once in a while.

Now back to the Joe and Hunter impeachment.