Embattled Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) is predicting he will be expelled from Congress as early as this week following the release of a scathing report from the House Ethics Committee, which found “substantial evidence” that he knowingly violated ethics guidelines, House rules and criminal laws.
In a three-hour-long, expletive-laden conversation held on X Spaces, Santos declined to comment on the array of allegations brought up by the report. He said his words could be used against him in an ongoing criminal case in which he faces 23 federal charges, including fraud, money laundering, falsifying records and aggravated identity theft.
Santos did, however, describe the Ethics Committee report as “slanderous” and claimed that his colleagues are trying to force him out of his House seat. He also accused Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest (R-Miss.) of “weaponizing” his position and publishing a “hit-piece” against him.
Santos, who described himself in the conversation as the Republican “It Girl” as well as the “Mary Magdalene of the United States Congress,” defiantly declared: “I’m not leaving.”
“Come hell or high water … it’s done when I say it’s done,” he said during the conversation on Friday night.
Still, the lawmaker appeared to believe his fate is sealed.
“I know I’m going to get expelled when this expulsion resolution goes to the floor,” said Santos, referring to a motion to remove him that Guest introduced on Nov. 17. “I’ve done the math over and over, and it doesn’t look really good.”
Expulsion from the House requires a two-thirds vote by members.
The House can consider Guest’s motion after it returns from its Thanksgiving break on Tuesday. The timing of a vote remains uncertain.
While speaking to reporters in Sarasota, Fla., on Monday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said he spoke with Santos “at some length over the holiday’ about “his options.’ Johnson did not specify what those are.
“We’ll have to see,” he said. “It is not yet determined. But we’ll be talking about that when we get back tomorrow.”
Expulsions from Congress are extremely rare. Only five members of the House have ever been expelled in American history: Three lawmakers were expelled in 1861, at the start of the Civil War, for fighting for the Confederacy. Then-Rep. Michael Myers (D-Pa.) was expelled in 1980 after he was convicted of bribery, and Rep. James Traficant (D-Ohio) was expelled in 2002 after being convicted of racketeering, bribery and fraud.
If expelled, Santos would be the first lawmaker removed in modern times without having been convicted of a crime.
The Ethics Committee report, which was published on Nov. 16, accused Santos of — among other things — stealing money from his campaign, deceiving donors about how contributions would be used, creating fictitious loans and engaging in fraudulent business dealings. Santos, the report alleged, repeatedly used funds intended for his campaign for personal enrichment, including spa charges and paying down his own credit card debt.
Santos announced following the report’s release that he would not seek reelection next year.
During the X Spaces conversation, Santos said he does not want to continue working with “a bunch of hypocrites” in Congress, whom he accused of committing infractions more severe than his, including being “more worried about getting drunk every night” with lobbyists.
Santos, without providing evidence, also accused his colleagues of trying to “sell off the American people” and of voting while hung over.
“They all act like they’re in ivory towers with white pointy hats and they’re untouchable,” he said. “Within the ranks of United States Congress, there’s felons galore.”
Santos also zeroed in on Guest, challenging the Mississippi Republican to “be a man” and quickly move the resolution forward.
A spokeswoman for Guest did not immediately respond to a request for comment. When the Ethics Committee released the report, Guest, in an accompanying statement, said that the evidence uncovered by the investigation of Santos “is more than sufficient to warrant punishment and the most appropriate punishment, is expulsion.”
On Friday, Santos said he will wear his expulsion “like a badge of honor.”
“I’ll be expelled because people simply did not like me,” he said.
Amy B Wang contributed to this report.