New York House Republicans bring resolution to expel Rep. George Santos

U.S. Rep. George Santos is in hot water, with several fellow New York House Republicans announcing that they introduced a resolution for his expulsion on Wednesday. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito shared the news on X, where he also claimed that Reps. Nick Langworthy, Mike Lawler, Marc Molinaro, Nick LaLota and Brandon Williams were co-ponsoring the bill.

Later that day Santos released a statement in which he claimed that expelling him before he had been found guilty would “set a dangerous precedent.” He added that he remains committed to serving the residents of his district, and would continue to focus on his work for his constituents.

“This will do nothing other than erase the voices of the electorate,” Santos’ statement read. “Let us not succumb to the distractions and let the political games take precedence over the people’s welfare.”

Santos was already dealing with a bleak week as prosecutors expanded their wire fraud case against him on Tuesday. U.S. Attorney Breon Peace has added 10 more counts to the case he’s building against the embattled congressman, adding to the 13 Santos was previously indicted on last May.

New charges include wire fraud, making materially false statements to the Federal Election Commission, falsifying records in an attempt to obstruct the FEC, aggravated identity theft, and access device fraud.

“As alleged, Santos is charged with stealing people’s identities and making charges on his own donors’ credit cards without their authorization, lying to the FEC — and, by extension, the public — about the financial state of his campaign,” Peace said, in a release. “Santos false inflated the campaign’s reported receipts with non-existent loans and contributions that were either fabricated or stolen.”

According to Newsday, Santos maintained his innocence when speaking with reporters in Washington on Wednesday.

“I’m pretty much denying every last bit of charges,” Santos asserted. “I didn’t handle the finances… That’s why you pay treasurers and fundraisers and financial advisors for a campaign. That’s why you have these hefty campaign expenses. Why would I on God’s green earth even handle a credit card? It was just not the case.”

This comes on the heels of the news that Nancy Marks, the former campaign treasurer for Santos, pleaded guilty on a charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States at the Central Islip federal courthouse on Oct. 5. The charge is in connection with the federal investigation of myriad financial irregularities regarding the Republican representative.

Marks admitted that Santos had submitted fake campaign finance reports, which falsely claimed that he had loaned his campaign $500,000 in an effort to impress Republican Party leaders. This fake loan was also essential for Santos to reach fundraising thresholds, which are necessary to qualify for nomination by the GOP.

Marks, reading from a prepared statement at court, told the court that she had also given the Federal Elections Commission a list of people who she and Santos claimed had supposedly donated large amounts of money to the campaign. The list is alleged to include the names of members of both Santos’ and Marks’ families, according to prosecutors.

According to Ray Perini, Marks’ lawyer, she has not entered a formal agreement with prosecutors to testify against Santos, but she would be willing to do so if asked. Outside the courthouse, Perini also asserted that Santos had duped his client, and even implied the congressman may have emotionally manipulated his client.

Since Marks’ resignation her former boss laid all of the blame for his financial issues on her, even telling one conservative news outlet that she “went rogue.”

Tom Suozzi, a former U.S. representative, announced on Tuesday he would run to try and recapture his seat currently occupied by Santos.

Santos’ next court date is Oct. 27.