2023-12-01 18:10:26
To the third has been the expired. George Santos, he Republican representative from New York with many lies and instances of corruption that have been ratified in one devastating report of the Ethics Committee of the Lower House and they have given him a federal imputation of 23 charges, it has been expelled this Friday from Congress.
Saints, a artist of fiction with lies exposed after he was elected in the 2022 legislature, he had survived two previous votes to try to unseat him. The publication last month of the report of the Ethics Committee, which considered that there was “substantial evidence” of multiple violations of federal lawsrelaunched one more attempt.
This is what culminated this Friday, when 206 Democrats and 105 of their rank-and-file colleagues Republicans have come together and passed the two-thirds majority that was needed to give the green light to the expulsion resolution, which had been introduced by a Republican, Michael Guest, chairman of the Ethics Committee.
The departure of Santos reduces the already narrow majority of conservatives in the lower house, which now can only afford to lose three votes to advance any legislation if all Democrats vote against it. And it forces New York Governor Kathy Hochul to call a special election to fill the vacant seat.
First no criminal conviction
In the US, before only five congressmen they had been expelled. Three were to support the Confederacy during the civil war. Since then, there had only been two more instances, in 1980 and 2002, but Santos’s is the first of the last three that occurs without the congressman having been criminally convicted in the courts.
This is the reason given by some Republicans who voted against the expulsion, among whom is the‘speaker’ Mike Johnsonother members of the leadership of the party and the representatives of thethe most radical wing of the ultra-right. And in the debate that took place on the eve, for example, Elise Stefanik, number three of the Conservatives in the Lower House, warned that it establishes “a dangerous precedent», something Santos himself has also said.
Others opposed to expelling his colleague said that the decision should be left in the hands of the voters in the next election, although Santos had said, after the publication of the report of the Ethics Committee two years ago weeks, that he would not stand for re-election.
Lies and crimes
The report was devastating. To them 56 pages he made sure that Santos “exploited every aspect of his candidacy in their own personal financial gain», “blatantly stole from his campaign”,“deceived the donors” and sustained the criminal plot «through a constant series of lies to his constituents, donors and staff about his background and experience.”
The investigation confirmed that Santos stole money from his campaign coffers, misled donors about how their contributions would be used, created fictitious loans and conducted fraudulent business. The document also mentioned, among other actions, the use of campaign funds for personal expenses com luxury shopping, trips to Las Vegas and visits to spas or expenses on the website of sexual content OnlyFans.
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Despite the frequent calls to resign from his group colleagues Santos has shown himself challenging until the last moment and has always denied doing anything wrong. On Thursday he held a press conference at the gates of the Capitol and accused the other representatives of «‘bullying’» and criticized the committee’s report as “full of hyperbole”, something he no doubt knows a lot about.
It has also been declared not guilty of 23 federal criminal chargeswhich include fraud, money laundering, falsification of documents and aggravated identity theft. He trial is scheduled to begin on September 2024.
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