Santos faces new expulsion push by onetime allies: New York Republicans

A clutch of Republican House members from New York began pushing Wednesday to expel one of their own, Rep. George Santos, amid mounting federal charges that he defrauded donors and lied about his campaign finances.

The group of six New York freshmen announced plans to swiftly introduce an expulsion resolution to try to capitalize on a spate of new charges against Santos and a vacuum in House Republican leadership, hoping to whip up enough support to rid themselves and their party of a major political liability ahead of next year’s elections.

“We feel that enough’s enough,” said Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, one of the most vulnerable first-term Republicans, who represents a New York district that adjoins Santos’. “He’s a stain on the institution.”

As the House’s most extreme form of punishment, expulsion requires a two-thirds supermajority to pass, a barrier so high that it has only been cleared five times in the institution’s history — making it far from clear if the move was little more than a messaging exercise by Republicans preparing to defend swing seats next year.

House Republicans repelled an earlier attempt by Democrats to expel Santos in May after his initial indictment on charges of wire fraud, lying on congressional financial disclosures and stealing public funds.

At the time, Kevin McCarthy, who was still House speaker, argued that Santos deserved a chance to defend himself in court. Detractors also charged that the then-speaker wanted to keep Santos’ vote in a narrowly divided House. Though several of the New York Republicans had called for him to resign by then, McCarthy convinced all of them — including D’Esposito — to divert the resolution to the House Ethics Committee for further consideration.

But D’Esposito and his allies said Wednesday that two things had since changed, creating a potentially perilous situation for Santos.

First, Santos’ campaign treasurer pleaded guilty last week, admitting in court that she conspired with the congressman to report false donations and a fictional $500,000 personal loan to the campaign. Then late Tuesday, authorities added 10 new felony counts against Santos, dramatically expanding the case against him.

“I have a feeling this resolution is going to catch fire,” said Rep. Nick LaLota, another Long Island Republican pushing for expulsion. “Many people feel like we do.”

LaLota said the New York lawmakers had no commitments from party leaders to greenlight an expulsion vote. But their resolution seemed opportunistically timed to coincide with ongoing deliberations over who should replace McCarthy, who was ousted last week. If the New Yorkers feel strongly enough, they could use their leverage in the vote for speaker to advance the expulsion push.

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