Santos Due in Court as Colleagues Move To Throw Him Out of the House, Without Waiting for a Trial
‘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,’ a federal prosecutor says.
Representative George Santos is set to appear at a Long Island, New York, federal courthouse Friday to be arraigned on additional charges as pressure mounts within the House GOP conference to expel the embattled congressman.
Since entering Congress, Mr. Santos has often been the butt of the joke for his habit of embellishing his resume and telling tall tales on the campaign trail.
During the speakership battle in October, say, Congressman Jamie Raskin quipped that “there was never so much chaos in the House when George Santos was speaker,” a joke Mr. Santos appeared to take in stride.
Tomorrow, though, Mr. Santos will be arraigned on charges relating to his facility for spinning falsehoods at the Eastern District of New York. He faces charges of identity theft, conspiracy to commit offenses against America, making false statements to the Federal Elections Commission, and seven counts of wire fraud.
“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,” a federal prosecutor, Breon Peace, said in a statement.
An assistant FBI director-in-charge, James Smith, added that Mr. Santos “allegedly led multiple additional fraudulent criminal schemes, lying to the American public in the process,” and, “Anyone who attempts to violate the law as part of a political campaign will face punishment in the criminal justice system.”
There is also mounting pressure from within the GOP conference to expel him from Congress. Representative Nick LaLota told CBS that he’s looking for co-sponsors on a resolution to expel Mr. Santos from the House, adding, “I expect Democrats and Republicans to remove him as soon as possible.” Other members of Congress have had harsher words.
“George Santos is a liar and a fraud who should not be a member of Congress. Since he won’t resign and with the House Ethics Committee not moving at the pace we had hoped, we’re adjusting our approach and pushing forward a resolution to expel him,” Congressman Marc Molinaro told CBS.
