George Santos Prepares for His Expulsion by Staging One More Fracas

Likely on his way out of Congress for good, Republican George Santos isn’t leaving without another dramatic showdown. On Thursday, the cartoonishly delinquent representative from Long Island introduced a privileged resolution to expel New York Democrat Jamaal Bowman. Santos argued that if he has to go down, so too should Bowman, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor last month for falsely triggering a fire alarm minutes before a vote on a government funding bill.

After surviving a pair of prior expulsion efforts, Santos’s fate may have finally been sealed by a damning ethics investigation this month that found he spent campaign funds on OnlyFans subscriptions, luxury shopping sprees, a holiday in the Hamptons, and a honeymoon in Las Vegas. Santos has sought to downplay the probe, claiming it was “slanderous” and “littered in hyperbole, littered in opinion.” Separate from his alleged campaign finance violations, he faces 23 federal criminal counts for charges including wire fraud, theft of public funds, and money laundering. He has pleaded not guilty.

Nevertheless, Santos was defiant during a morning press conference outside the Capitol building. “If I leave, they win,” he said. “If I leave, the bullies take place. This is bullying.”

He also noted that he would be just the sixth member expelled in the House’s 234-year history. “And the only one without a conviction or without having committed treason,” he added, warning that his ouster could set a dangerous precedent. “[This] is going to be the undoing of a lot of members of this body, because this will haunt them in the future where mere allegations are sufficient to have members removed from office.”

While more than 90 Republicans are expected to support the vote to expel Santos, according to Axios, some in the party have resisted calls to remove the congressman, citing concerns about due process and submitting that he has yet to be convicted of a crime. Among them is House Speaker Mike Johnson, who said Wednesday that he has “real reservations” about the precedent Santos’s expulsion might set. Of course, for Johnson, there is another possible motivation. He already resides over a razor-thin majority, and losing Santos could grant more leverage to Republican mavericks and Democrats alike.

The vote to expel Santos is slated to be held on Friday. The 35-year-old lawmaker has previously said he does not plan to seek reelection, opening the door for Democrat Anna Kaplan, a former New York state senator, to flip Santos’s seat. “If George Santos is expelled tomorrow, the special election will be right around the corner,“ she wrote in a Thursday post on X. “I am battle tested, and I am ready.… We’ve already raised over $1 million.”

As for Bowman, the sophomore lawmaker shrugged off Santos’s belligerent resolution. “No one in Congress, or anywhere in America, takes soon-to-be former Congressman George Santos seriously,” he said in a statement. “This is just another meaningless stunt in his long history of cons, antics, and outright fraud.” Bowman was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine for yanking the fire alarm and to submit a written apology to the Capitol Police.