Rep. George Santos is planning to push for a vote in the House to remove a Democratic lawmaker who was recently convicted of a crime. He believes that the efforts to expel him from Congress are unfair and break with established precedent.
The embattled New York Republican aims to prompt a House vote to expel Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York. According to Mr. Santos, unlike himself, Mr. Bowman has pleaded guilty and been convicted of a criminal offense, specifically for sounding a false fire alarm during a House vote.
Mr. Bowman, a member of the House’s progressive “Squad,” admitted to a misdemeanor charge in October, which led to a plea agreement with prosecutors. As part of the agreement, he paid a $1,000 fine, received three months of probation, and issued a formal apology for his actions.
Mr. Santos remarked, “But Jamaal Bowman gets a pass. That’s why today at noon, I’m going to be introducing a privileged motion for expulsion of convicted and guilty pleaded Congressman Jamaal Bowman and I stand there. I think that that’s consistency.”
Mr. Bowman responded by saying that “no one” takes Mr. Santos seriously. He described the move as “another meaningless stunt in his long history of cons, antics, and outright fraud.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Santos himself is facing 23 federal charges for wire fraud, theft of public funds, and money laundering, among others.
A potential third expulsion vote could take place as soon as Thursday afternoon, as a result of a procedural move by House Republicans and Democrats who filed separate resolutions to expel the lawmaker. However, House leaders have suggested that they would prefer to hold the vote on Friday.
Mr. Santos has pledged not to resign from Congress but has indicated that he will not seek reelection.
He has remained defiant, vowing to file a “slew of complaints” against members and the House Ethics Committee, which presented a damning report against him that seemingly swayed the opinions of many lawmakers who had previously voted to support Mr. Santos during the last expulsion attempt.
Mr. Santos criticized the ethics report, claiming it was “littered with opinion and hyperbole.” He also directed his criticism at House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest, a Republican from Mississippi, who he said lacked the courage to push for a vote on his own expulsion resolution.
Speaking at a morning press conference that he called, Mr. Santos stated that the efforts to expel him are thinly veiled attempts to pressure him into resigning.
“So the reality of it is, it’s all theater,” Mr. Santos said. “Theater for the cameras and microphones for the American people.”
Historically, only five members of Congress have been expelled from the institution: three for being part of the Confederacy during the Civil War, and two who had been convicted before being expelled.
