The House Ethics Committee released its highly anticipated report regarding its investigation into embroiled Rep. George Santos (R-NY) on Thursday, recommending that the allegations against the freshman lawmaker be referred to the Department of Justice.
The report comes months after the committee opened its investigation into Santos over allegations that he “engaged in unlawful activity” when he lied about his personal and professional experience on the campaign trail and failed to disclose required financial reports. The report concluded that the matter should be further investigated by the DOJ but stopped short of explicitly calling for his expulsion — instead saying it warrants “public condemnation.”
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“The Committee concurs with the ISC’s determination that Representative Santos’ conduct warrants public condemnation, is beneath the dignity of the office, and has brought severe discredit upon the House,” the committee said in a statement.
The report concluded “substantial evidence” that Santos had knowingly filed false or incomplete reports to the Federal Election Commission, used campaign funds for personal purposes, and “engaged in knowing and willful violations” in relation to the Ethics in Government Act.
“Representative Santos sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal financial profit. He blatantly stole from his campaign. He deceived donors into providing what they thought were contributions to his campaign but were in fact payments for his personal benefit,” the report says. “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. He used his connections to high value donors and other political campaigns to obtain additional funds for himself through fraudulent or otherwise questionable business dealings. And he sustained all of this through a constant series of lies to his constituents, donors, and staff about his background and experience.”
The report comes after Santos has already avoided two expulsion efforts in the House, including one brought forward by his fellow Republicans in New York. However, the latest effort to expel Santos last month failed after a majority of Republicans and a handful of Democrats said they wanted to wait for the investigation to be completed before making a decision.
Although the report did not specifically recommend that action be taken against Santos, some lawmakers have indicated they will once again push for Santos’s expulsion, arguing the freshman lawmaker is guilty of election fraud.
“He should be expelled. What he has done is violate the public trust and engage in election fraud,” said Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY), one of the New York Republicans seeking to expel Santos. “He lied to voters and those lies were the basis upon which he got elected. The Republican Party ought to stand for election integrity, and first and foremost, the most provable case of election fraud we have before us is George Santos.”
Other New York Republicans echoed similar sentiments, including Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY), who filed the second expulsion resolution against Santos last month. However, while D’Esposito told the Washington Examiner that he hopes the report “reveals what New Yorkers already know in that George Santos is a complete fraud,” he noted he would wait to read the full report before making a decision.
Meanwhile, some Republicans have expressed hesitation to expel Santos before his criminal trial in New York is finished, claiming it could set a dangerous precedent for future proceedings. Others also pointed to the GOP’s slim majority in the House, noting if Santos were ousted in the competitive district, its four-seat majority could shrink to three.
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Santos did not respond to a phone call and text for comment.
“Chairman Guest feels that the evidence uncovered in the Committee’s investigation is more than sufficient to warrant punishment, and that the most appropriate punishment is expulsion,” a spokesperson for House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest (R-MS) said in a statement. “So, separate from the Committee process and his role as Chairman, he plans to file an expulsion resolution during tomorrow’s 9:00 a.m. pro forma session.”
