The House Ethics Committee has finally issued its report on the alleged fraud of Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.).
After the report was published, there were immediate calls for his resignation and expulsion from Congress.
Almost immediately after Santos took office, reports surfaced that his entire resume was fraudulent.
In addition to his phony resume, George Santos was suspected of dipping into campaign funds for personal use and engaging in other "fraudulent conduct."
Santos has deflected throughout his time in office, claiming that this was nothing more than a witch hunt to come after him because he is a gay conservative as well, having turned an eternal blue seat red in the last election cycle.
Among other findings, the Ethics Committee report found that Santos had engaged in "used campaign funds for personal purposes" and "engaged in fraudulent conduct."
The Committee is expected to move to expel Santos from Congress.
Rep. Michael Guest's (R-MS) office, who is the chairman of the Committee, stated:
"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.
"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."
Santos was again defiant after the report was issued. He stated:
"If there was a single ounce of ETHICS in the 'Ethics committee', they would have not released this biased report. The Committee went to extraordinary lengths to smear myself and my legal team about me not being forthcoming (My legal bills suggest otherwise).
"It is a disgusting politicized smear that shows the depths of how low our federal government has sunk. Everyone who participated in this grave miscarriage of Justice should all be ashamed of themselves. We the People desperately need an Article V Constitutional Convention."
It is rather ironic that he would think such a report would be kept under wraps when the American people who supported his campaign have every right to know the findings.
Santos continued:
"I will continue on my mission to serve my constituents up until I am allowed. I will however NOT be seeking re-election for a second term in 2024 as my family deserves better than to be under the gun from the press all the time.
"Public service life was never a goal or a dream, but I stepped up to the occasion when I felt my country needed it most. I will 100% continue to maintain my commitment to my conservative values in my remaining time in Congress."
I have been pretty clear on my position on this since it was first reported that his resume was fraudulent.
Party members continued to push due process, but my stance was that serving in Congress is a privilege, not a right, and the fact that he misled voters should have been cause for immediate expulsion.
It seemed pretty clear that he was a grifter the likes of "The Distinguished Gentleman." When the Committee revealed he was spending campaign funds on things like luggage, botox, and OnlyFans, it confirmed everything I have been reporting to this point.
The fact that members of Congress embraced him is shameful, as he was clearly a fraud from the outset.
The House tried to expel him once and failed, with members saying they wanted to wait for the investigation to come to a conclusion.
Well, it has concluded, and another motion will be put on the floor on Friday to remove him. We can only hope there are enough votes this time around to remove Santos from Congress, as should have been done more than a year ago.
In order to expel Santos, the House will need to have a two-thirds majority. Every Democrat will vote to remove him, so we only need about half of the GOP contingent for the motion to expel him to be successful.
One final note: this also goes to once again show the failure of party leadership. Santos' resume should have been thoroughly vetted by RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel and local Republican leadership when he first announced his candidacy, but it clearly was not.
This is yet one more example of why wholesale changes are needed in GOP leadership. This is a horrific stain on the party that will give Democrats more ammo to use in the 2024 cycle.
