Santos Promises ‘Slew’ of Complaints in What Could Be His Final Press Conference

Ahead of a potential expulsion vote expected Friday, Congressman George Santos announced Wednesday that he would be filing a privileged motion to expel Congressman Jamal Bowman and “a slew” of other complaints against his colleagues.Mr. Santos said that he plans to attempt to force a vote to expel Mr. Bowman for his pulling of a fire alarm earlier this year. Mr. Bowman pleaded guilty to pulling the fire alarm and cut a deal where the charges will be dismissed if he fulfills the conditions of a three-month probation.Mr. Santos faces charges of wire fraud, conspiracy, credit card fraud, and identity theft, among others, and his behavior was the subject of a House Ethics Committee report released earlier this month.The report detailed alleged abuses of campaign funds including using the money for trips to the Hamptons, Botox treatments, luxury clothes, and OnlyFans, a site best known for pornography.Mr. Santos promised that, if he is removed, the precedent of removing members based on an allegation alone will “haunt” the legislative body.“This will haunt them in the future where mere allegations are sufficient to have members removed from Congress when duly elected by their people,” Mr. Santos said.If expelled, Mr. Santos would join a small group of five lawmakers who have been expelled from the House. Most lawmakers who find themselves in a position similar to Mr. Santos resign, either on their own accord or as part of a plea deal.For example, Congressman Chris Collins resigned ahead of a guilty plea in an insider trading case in 2019. Mr. Collins was later pardoned by President Trump, as one of many pardons Mr. Trump issued after losing the 2020 election.Mr. Santos also called the daming Ethics Committee report on his alleged fraudulent behavior “slanderous,” adding that the push to remove him is “theater for the cameras, theater for the microphones, theater for the American people at the expense of the American people.”Alongside the motion to expel Mr. Bowman, Mr. Santos promised to file “a slew” of complaints against more of his colleagues “in the coming hours of today and tomorrow to make sure that we keep the playing field even.”In what is Mr. Santos’s potentially last week in Congress, he has been airing grievances against his colleagues in a fashion reminiscent of Congressman Madison Cawthorn, who lost re-election in 2022, and made salacious allegations against fellow members of the House GOP.Earlier this week Mr. Santos called his colleagues “a bunch of hypocrites” and accused them of having extramarital affairs, missing votes due to drinking with lobbyists, and delegating their voting responsibilities to others.If Mr. Santos is removed, Governor Hochul will need to schedule a special election for New York’s third Congressional District. The race has attracted the attention of Mr. Santos’s predecessor, Congressman Tom Suozzi, a Long Island Democrat who served as a representative until he ran for governor in 2022 and a number of Republicans.One of the Republican hopefuls, Kellen Curry, tells the Sun that Mr. Santos’s press conference was “another reminder that the end can’t come soon enough for NY-3 residents.”“I’m hopeful that he will be expelled and House Republicans can focus on governing,” Mr. Curry says. The Cook Political Report currently gives Democrats an advantage in flipping the seat in the 2024 general election but has not handicapped a potential special election there.

Santos Promises ‘Slew’ of Complaints in What Could Be His Final Press Conference

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