House Democrats are ratcheting up pressure on colleagues to remove embattled Rep. George Santos (RN.Y.) of Congress, amid calls from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle for Santos to either resign or face expulsion.
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) on Friday introduced a resolution to expel Santos, a step that Republican leaders have so far refused to take. Santos’ own constituents traveled to the Capitol this week to ask lawmakers to get him out of office because he won’t resign.
“We have filed a formal expulsion resolution with the House Ethics Committee to remove George Santos. It is time for him to go. We have given him plenty of time to resign, and he has chosen not to,” Garcia told reporters outside the Capitol, surrounded by other members of the board with the resolution, including Reps. Dan Goldman (DN.Y.), Ritchie Torres. (DN.Y.), Eric Sorensen (D-Ill.) and Becca Balint (D-Vt.).
The measure could not succeed, as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has refused to call on Santos to resign, and two-thirds of the chamber must support Santos’ ouster. It is rare for a member of parliament to remove one of his colleagues. Defeated MPs often resign before being forced to. The last member of the House to be expelled was Rep. Jim Traficant (D-Ohio) after he was impeached on corruption charges in 2002.
Pressure continues to mount around Santos, who made or denied most of his background for voters during his tenure in New York’s 3rd Congressional District. Santos is the subject of multiple local, state, federal and international investigations, but he denies any criminal wrongdoing and will not be charged.
Garcia there reviewed a laundry list of Santos has been “embellished,” including claims about education, career, religion, and connections to the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
“It is very important for us to find out that George Santos is a fraud, a liar,” Garcia said.
While criminal charges or a formal House Ethics Committee investigation would make the ouster more politically attractive, the group of lawmakers said they can’t wait for that to happen.
“The law is very focused on financial disclosure and campaign finance, and they should be held accountable, because even their own statements have said that the financial disclosure was false,” Goldman said. “But we can’t wait for him to be charged or investigated ethically, because that won’t solve the matter that he has admitted to lying. He is a liar who does not have the trust of his constituents.
It doesn’t matter if the group can’t sway nearly 80 House Republicans that will be needed to meet the supermajority requirement to oust Santos, Torres said. The move is more about getting lawmakers on record.
“The American people have the right to know where every member of Congress stands on George Santos. It’s one thing to condemn him behind the scenes – it’s another to force a vote and see where everyone stands,” said Torres. “I think we need transparency.”