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WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Ethics Committee said Thursday in a scathing report that it had amassed “overwhelming evidence” of violations of the law through Republican Rep. George Santos of New York that it sent to the Justice Department, concluding emphatically that it “cannot be trusted. ” after a months-long investigation into his conduct.
Shortly after the panel’s report was released, Santos called it a “disgusting politicized vile” in a tweet about X but said he would not seek re-election for a second term. However, he gave no indication that he would resign before the end of his term, pledging to pursue his “conservative values during his remaining time in Congress. “
But a new effort was launched to temporarily expel him from the House. The House could vote on his expulsion as soon as he returns from the Thanksgiving holiday later this month.
The panel said Santos knowingly caused his campaign committee to file false or incomplete reports with the Federal Election Commission, used the campaign budget for personal gain and violated the Ethics in Government Act related to monetary filings. registered before the Chamber.
“Rep. Santos sought to fraudulently exploit any and every facet of his House candidacy for his own non-public monetary gain,” an investigative subcommittee said in a 56-page report unanimously followed by the committee of the whole.
READ MORE: Full House Ethics Report on George Santos’ Alleged Campaign Crimes
Raj Shah, a spokesman for House Speaker Mike Johnson, said Johnson had reviewed the report “and its very troubling findings. “Shah does not include any express recommendations related to punishment. Before a past expulsion vote, Johnson had said Santos was entitled to due process. And he voted no.
“As members of both parties, members of the ethics committee, and Rep. Santos return to Congress after the Thanksgiving holiday, President Johnson encourages all concerned to look out for the most productive interests of the establishment as this factor is addressed in more detail,” Shah said. saying.
The report also highlights Santos’ lack of cooperation in his investigation and says he “evaded” requests for direct information. “Rep. Santos’ lack of candor in the investigation itself was particularly troubling,” the committee determined.
The committee investigating the allegations against Santos gave him the opportunity to submit a signed written statement, provide documents in response to the committee’s request for data, and submit an affidavit. But he didn’t, according to the report. The data he provided, according to the commission, “included significant inaccuracies that further reinforced the lies he made in his 2022 campaign. “
The committee’s investigative committee said that without Santos’ cooperation, it would not be able to determine whether some of the expenses reported through his crusade were legitimate. But some of the expenses, at first glance, seemed to have nothing to do with the crusade. For example, he cites $2,281 spent at Atlantic City resorts and $1,400 spent at a skin spa for what one spreadsheet describes as “Botox. “
READ MORE: New York Congressman George Santos Indicted for Fraud and Money Laundering
The panel also learned of a $3,332 expense for a hotel stay, even though the campaign calendar indicated that he “went to the Hamptons over the weekend. “And there were taxes and hotel fees on the Las Vegas campaign’s credit card, at a time when Santos was telling his crusade team that he was on his honeymoon and that there was no corresponding crusade occasion on the calendar.
The investigation also examined at least $200,000 transferred from a Florida-based company, RedStone Strategies LLC, to Santos’ private bank accounts. The report states that at least 3 other people transferred cash to RedStone after being informed that the cash would be used for political purposes, but the budget was transferred to Santos’ non-public accounts.
Santos used some of that cash to pay his credit card bills, make a $4,128 purchase at luxury retailer Hermes and more modest acquisitions on Onlyfans, an adult content website, Sephora, as well as for dining and parking, investigators said.
The ethics committee decided that Santos’ conduct “deserves public condemnation, is unbecoming of his office, and has brought serious discredit to the House. “
The investigation committee’s conclusions are the least of Santos’ worries. The congressman faces a 23-count federal indictment alleging he stole the identities of crusade donors and then used their credit cards to earn tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges. Prosecutors say Santos, who has pleaded not guilty, deposited some of the money into his private bank account and used the rest to fill his campaign coffers.
Santos, who represents parts of Queens and Long Island, is also accused of falsely reporting to the Federal Election Commission that he lent $500,000 for his crusade when in fact he gave nothing and had less than $8,000 in the bank. The fake loan was intended to convince GOP officials that he is a serious candidate, deserving of their monetary support, the indictment says.
READ MORE: Prosecutors Hand Over 80,000 Pages to Rep. George Santos in Fraud Case
The Justice Department declined to comment on the ethics report, as did the Brooklyn U. S. Attorney’s Office, which is handling the Santos case.
Earlier this week, a former Santos fundraiser pleaded guilty to a federal charge of phone fraud, admitting he posed as a high-ranking congressional aide while increasing the crusade’s budget for the embattled New York Republican.
Santos easily survived this month’s vote to expel him from the House, with as many Republicans and 31 Democrats opting to suspend the punishment while his felon trial and ethics committee investigation continued. But the committee’s report could simply replace that.
Rep. Susan Wild, for example, the most level-headed Democrat on the ethics committee, said she was no longer required to maintain neutrality because the committee’s work was already complete.
“I intend to vote yes on any eviction solution that is presented,” Wild said.
Rep. Jeff Jackson of North Carolina, one of the Democratic lawmakers who voted for Santos’ deportation earlier this month, said Santos has now been given due process.
“This report is damning,” he tweeted to X. “I will vote to expel him. “
And Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N. Y. , who also voted no in the last expulsion vote, said it’s not enough for Santos to say he may not run again.
“He will without delay resign or be expelled so that his constituents can be represented through someone who is not a fraud,” Malliotakis said.
Expulsion, the harshest form of punishment, has occurred only five times in the House’s history: three times during the Civil War for disloyalty to the Union and twice after convictions on federal charges, most recently in 2002. I would have to vote to expel Santos for the solution to pass.
If Santos were to be expelled, it would diminish the Republican Party’s already narrow majority in the House, which now stands at 221 votes to 213. But Santos’ expulsion from the House of Representatives has led many of his fellow New York Republicans because they seek to distance themselves from his actions.
Although Santos now says he won’t run for re-election, his campaign was already under-resourced and applicants from both parties were rushing to challenge him. Campaign records show he had about $28,000 at the end of the fundraising quarter that ended Sept. 30. an incredibly small sum for a sitting president.
Associated Press writers Stephen Groves, Farnoush Amiri and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.
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