Truth-allergic freshman Rep. George Santos (R-NY) will not run for re-election in 2024 after the House Ethics Committee released a blistering report on Thursday which found “potential violations of federal criminal law” in his expansive record of lies, scandals, and misdeeds.
In an aggrieved, long-winded statement posted to X decrying the bipartisan ethics probe as a “disgusting politicized smear,” Santos said he would not run for a second term to spare his family more scrutiny. He added he “will 100% continue to maintain my commitment to my conservative values in my remaining time in Congress.”
While the report itself did not explicitly call for Santos’ expulsion from Congress, the panel’s chairman, Rep. Michael Guest (R-MS), said in a statement on Thursday morning that he will file a motion to remove him from office after Congress’ break for Thanksgiving.
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Members of both parties swiftly announced their support for expelling Santos after the report was released on Thursday morning.
After months of investigation, the panel said it turned up “substantial evidence” of fraud by Santos—with the goal of personal financial gain—which will be referred to the Department of Justice for prosecution. The alleged fraudster already faces 23 criminal charges in New York federal court.
In a sign of how urgently the Ethics panel wanted to release their findings, Guest said that they opted not to recommend any specific sanctions for Santos because it “would have taken several more months.”
In general, the report lays bare Santos’ deceptions and details with brutal clarity how he has tarnished the institution of Congress.
“Representative Santos sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal financial profit,” the report's introduction reads.
It summarizes a dizzying array of findings, stating he “blatantly stole from his campaign,” “deceived donors,” and attempted to cover it all up through a “constant series of lies to his constituents, donors, and staff about his background and experience.”
Calling its Santos investigation "unprecedented," the Ethics Committee wrote that "the integrity of the House has been called into question in a significant and overt manner that the Committee cannot ignore."
The report explores in depth aspects of Santos' record that have surfaced over the past year through news reports and filings by federal prosecutors. It adds more detail to already well-supported claims that Santos lied about his background and deployed a number of campaign finance deceptions and obfuscations to covertly enrich himself.
The report, for instance, reveals eyebrow-raising campaign expenditures, including a $1,500 payment on the campaign's debit card listed as “botox” which was not reported to the Federal Election Commission. The campaign also covered over $2,200 on a trip to Atlantic City and shelled out more than $3,300 on an Airbnb rental when Santos was supposedly off in the Hamptons for the weekend.
The report details that Santos also spent campaign funds on products from Sephora, luxury goods from Hermes and Ferragamo, and at the online adult content platform OnlyFans.
Santos’ purported backstory, which he touted during his 2022 campaign, included being the grandson of Holocaust survivors, an educational history at Baruch College and New York University, work experience at Citi Group and Goldman Sachs, and a mother who died from health impacts due to the September 11 terrorist attacks. The report offers a blunt assessment of the claims: “No part of that backstory has been found to be true.”
In a remarkable development, Ethics investigators found that Santos shouldn’t have been surprised his story was shattered so quickly: privately, his staff managed to do so themselves during the 2022 campaign.
According to the report, Santos’ staff compiled a 140-page “vulnerability report” demonstrating they could not find any evidence to back up his biographical claims. When these staffers urged Santos to drop out of the race, he refused—prompting three aides to quit, according to the report.
In federal court, Santos faces 23 counts of federal charges that include conspiracy, wire and credit card fraud, false statements and records, as well as aggravated identity theft.
Key among those charges is that Santos schemed to embellish his campaign finance reports with a bogus loan and fake donors. His campaign treasurer, Nancy Marks, pleaded guilty last month to a fraud conspiracy charge and implicated Santos.
Santos has cast himself as an unknowing victim of Marks’ incompetence. However, the Ethics investigation uncovered that Santos was “heavily involved in the day-to-day financial operations of his campaigns” and established that he had login credentials to the campaign’s online bank accounts, reviewed FEC reports, and engaged in other campaign finance activities.
Santos’ campaign staffers told the committee that campaign finances were treated like a “black box” only reviewed by Santos and Marks. When staff raised concerns about Marks’ work, Santos told them she was “untouchable,” according to the report.
On Nov. 2, Santos survived a vote, pushed by fellow New York Republicans, to expel him from the House. In an unusual move ahead of that vote, the Ethics Committee telegraphed its final report would be released on or before Nov. 17. Many members seemed to only vote against Santos’ expulsion out of deference to the Ethics panel's process and in anticipation of the report.
Before and after that vote, however, Santos remained defiant—insisting he would run for re-election in 2024 even if he were to be expelled.
In his social media post, the alleged fraudster congressman is pledging to “continue on my mission to serve my constituents up until I am allowed.”
At this rate, Santos may not be allowed to continue that purported mission much longer. While Guest, the Republican Ethics chairman, is pledging to tee up an expulsion motion, Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) quickly announced on Thursday morning that he would attempt to expel Santos by bringing a legislative fast-track method known as a privileged resolution.
According to Axios, several Democratic and Republican lawmakers are supportive of booting Santos from the chamber following the Ethics report’s release.
Any vote to expel Santos would not come before Nov. 28, the day lawmakers return from their Thanksgiving break.
