Several New York House Republicans said there are not enough votes to expel Rep. George Santos from Congress, after they blocked a vote that would have tested exactly that question.
These five New York Republicans, Reps. Mike Lawler, Anthony D’Esposito, Nicholas LaLota, Marc Molinaro and Brandon Williams, joined the rest of their party in preventing an up or down vote on the ouster of Rep. George Santos (RN). . .Y.), despite repeatedly asking him to step down.
His justification? Given the need for a two-thirds majority to expel any member of the Chamber, Santos’s expulsion would not have passed anyway.
“Since we do not yet have the 2/3 supermajority necessary to expel Santos, the quickest way to rid this institution of this stain is to refer this matter to the House Ethics Committee,” D’Esposito said in a statement. release. Wednesday statementafter leading the charge for a referral from the Ethics Committee.
Here’s how it happened: In response to California Rep. Robert Garcia’s filing of a resolution to expel Santos, House Republicans passed a motion to refer the matter of Santos’ expulsion to the House Ethics Committee.
The 221 House Republicans who participated in the vote, upvoted of the approval of the motion.
While the Republicans involved in the effort described it as a matter of adhering to proper protocol, or, as in the case of the New York members, pragmatism, their action amounted to betting on ouster indefinitely.
The bipartisan House Ethics Committee has already been investigating Santos since March. And the Department of Justice, which earlier this month Santos accused of 13 crimes related to fraud and theft, has reportedly ordered the House panel to stand down and allow federal prosecutors to take precedence.
Instead, House Democrats argue that their Republican counterparts simply want to avoid provoking a special election that would, at the very least, create a temporary vacancy that would jeopardize their ability to pass party-line legislation. Republicans hold nine more seats than Democrats in the House, but the routine defection of far-right members of the House Republican Conference has given them even less leeway in close votes.
“This was an effort to bury the responsibility of a serious con man,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (DN.Y.) said in a Thursday press conference. “Why? Maybe it’s because the extreme MAGA Republicans need George Santos’ vote.”
Whatever the motive of House Republicans, their successful filing of an ouster effort for Santos puts five New York Republicans in purple House districts in a tight spot.
Those members have been among the most outspoken voices condemning Santos and calling for his departure, either by resignation or expulsion.
D’Esposito, who won a seat on Democratic-held Long Island in November, was the first House Republican ask for the resignation of Santos.
When asked how he reconciled his decision to vote against an ouster vote with his earlier calls for Santos to resign, D’Esposito’s office referred HuffPost to the congressman’s office. Wednesday statement stating that he wanted to expel Santos but that a two-thirds majority in the House is not yet needed to expel him. In that statement, he also called Santos a “disgusting liar.”
LaLota, also a Long Island Republican, asked Santos to give up shortly after D’Esposito did, and went on to supports his expulsion at the end of February.
When asked to explain Wednesday’s vote, a LaLota spokesperson referred HuffPost to your statement since that day.
“If Democrats were serious about his removal, they would work with us to get a report and referral from the Ethics Committee, rather than offer a political resolution that has no chance of passing the House.”
– Rep. Mike Lawler (RN.Y.)
“While he would have preferred there to be enough votes to expel the sociopathic con man, Congressman D’Esposito has spearheaded the next best thing: refer this matter to the Ethics Committee where we expect a result within 60 days and for the terrible liar. leave, by resignation or expulsion, before the August recess,” LaLota said.
Rep. Marc Molinaro, a lawmaker from the Upper Hudson Valley, was perhaps the first New York Republican to say he would support ousting Santos in early februarya position that he reiterated in March.
Molinaro also based his vote on the understanding that the House lacked the two-thirds majority needed for ouster, according to a spokesperson, who also shared a statement with HuffPost.
“George Santos should not be a member of Congress. He has irrevocably lost the trust of his constituents and colleagues,” Molinaro said. “I expect the Ethics Committee to do an immediate and speedy review.”
Lawler, a lower Hudson Valley lawmaker who ousted then-Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Chairman Sean Patrick Maloney in November, has demanded Santos resignation.
After voting on the motion to send Santos’s removal to the House Ethics Committee, Lawler accused Democrats of playing politics.
“If Democrats were serious about his removal, they would work with us to obtain a report and referral from the Ethics Committee, rather than offer a political resolution that has no chance of passing the House,” he said in a statement. Wednesday statement.
Finally, representative Brandon Williams of central New York has more than once called saints give up. Williams represents a seat long held by the Republican Party, but won by President Joe Biden in 2020.
HuffPost did not immediately receive a response from a Williams spokesperson about their vote to send Santos’s ouster to committee.
Regardless of the explanations of these Republicans, House Democrats see an opportunity to inflict damage on five of the Republicans they hope to unseat in 2024.
The DCCC, the campaign arm of the House Democrats, announced on friday that he was spending thousands of dollars on a small digital ad campaign criticizing the five New York Republicans for their vote. (A second barrage of ads will target House Republicans in 14 other states.)
“Vulnerable House Republicans have shown they are too weak to oppose party leadership, and instead of expelling accused serial con man and felon George Santos from Congress, they are protecting him,” DCCC spokesman Viet Shelton said. , it’s a statement.
Jonathan Nicholson contributed to this reporting.
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