Rep. George Santos’ announcement that he will not run again is not enough. Republicans need to expel Santos so he can’t collect his salary from Congress.
The results of the investigation reveal a blatant level of criminal fraud and corruption:
Rep. Santos sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own financial gain.
He obviously stole his campaign.
He deceived donors into providing what they thought were contributions to his campaign, but were actually payments for his personal benefit.
He reported fictitious loans to his political committees to induce donors and party committees to make additional contributions to his campaign – then diverted more campaign money for himself as so-called “repayments” of these fictitious loans.
He used his relationships with high-profile donors and other political campaigns to obtain additional funds through fraudulent or questionable business transactions.
And he supported all of this through a constant series of lies to his constituents, donors, and staff about his background and experience.
Santos announced after the release of a 56-page ethics report detailing several crimes he is accused of committing to win his seat, “this is a disgusting politicized smear that shows how far our federal government has fallen.” Everyone who participated in this serious miscarriage of justice should be ashamed of themselves. However, I will NOT seek re-election for a second term in 2024, because my family deserves better than to be constantly under fire from the press.
Allowing Santos to stay in the House for another year and collect his salary and benefits would be a crime against taxpayers. Several House members wanted to wait until the ethics committee’s report was released before voting to expel Santos.
The report from the ethics committee has arrived, and it is even worse than we imagined.
If Republicans allow Santos to remain in the House, they will allow a potential criminal to take hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money for a job he should not have.
House Republicans will condemn themselves if they refuse to expel George Santos.
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Jason is the editor-in-chief. He is also a member of the White House press pool and a congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason holds a bachelor’s degree in political science. His graduate studies focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
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