A group of House Republicans is moving to expel controversial GOP Rep. George Santos (R-NY) from Congress.
Late Thursday, Republicans from New York officially filed a privileged resolution to expel Santos.
The resolution was introduced by Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY).
D’Esposito’s resolution was co-sponsored by fellow New York Republican Reps. Brandon Williams, Nick LaLota, and Marc Molinaro.
The drastic step came in response to a series of scandals involving Santos including revelations that he allegedly misled voters about his personal life and background.
Santos was indicted for various federal offenses in May.
He was also charged with additional crimes earlier this month.
“Today on the House floor, I introduced a privileged resolution to expel George Santos from Congress,” D’Esposito said in a statement after introducing the resolution.
“While George Santos is entitled to his day in court to plead his innocence, the people of New York’s 3rd Congressional District deserve a representative who is solely focused on serving the public and not spending the majority of their time combating 23 federal charges such as wire fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds,” he continued.
“We must remove this conman from Congress.”
The resolution was first announced on October 11.
The move came one day after the latest slate of federal charges against Santos were announced.
However, the action Thursday paves the way for the House to hold a floor vote on the issue within two legislative days.
In response to D’Esposito’s action, Santos said in a social media post that he is entitled to due process.
“Three points of clarification:
“1. I have not cleared out my office.
“2. I’m not resigning.
“3. I’m entitled to due process and not a predetermined outcome as some are seeking. God bless!”
In May, Santos pled not guilty to 13 charges of money laundering, theft of public funds, and lying to Congress.
Then, on Oct. 10, the U.S. Attorney’s office filed 10 additional charges against the New York congressman, filing a 23-count superseding indictment in the case.
“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,” U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement at the time.
“Santos falsely inflated the campaign’s reported receipts with non-existent loans and contributions that were either fabricated or stolen.
“This Office will relentlessly pursue criminal charges against anyone who uses the electoral process as an opportunity to defraud the public and our government institutions.”
READ MORE: GOP Rep George Santos Charged by Justice Department in Federal Probe
