New York (AP) — Rep. George Santos anticipates being ousted from Congress after a damning report by the House Ethics Committee revealed significant evidence of lawbreaking by the New York Republican.
During a fiery speech on Friday filled with taunts and profanity directed at his congressional counterparts, Santos declared, “I’m not going anywhere.” However, he acknowledged that his time as a member of Congress may soon be over.
“I know I’m going to get expelled when this expulsion resolution goes to the floor,” he said Friday night during a conversation on X Spaces. “I’ve done the math over and over, and it doesn’t look really good.”
These comments came after the Republican chairman of the House Ethics Committee, Michael Guest, introduced a resolution to expel Santos once the body returns from Thanksgiving break.
While Santos has previously survived two expulsion votes, many of his colleagues who were previously against the effort now express their support, citing the findings of the committee’s monthslong investigation into various alleged misconduct by Santos.
The report revealed that Santos used campaign funds for personal expenses at luxury retailers and adult content websites, and then led the campaign to submit false or incomplete reports.
Investigators wrote, “Representative Santos sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal financial profit.” They highlighted his lack of cooperation with the report, stating he repeatedly “evaded” straightforward requests for information.
On Friday, Santos declined to address the specifics of the report, calling them “slanderous” and “designed to force me out of my seat.” He explained that any defense of his actions could be used against him in the ongoing criminal case brought by federal prosecutors.
Instead, Santos adopted a contemplative tone during the three-hour livestream, tracing his journey from Republican “it girl” to “the Mary Magdalene of the United States Congress.” He also criticized his congressional colleagues, accusing them of misconduct, such as voting while intoxicated, which he claims was worse than anything he’d done.
His choice not to seek reelection, he said, was not due to external pressure, but because of his frustration with the “sheer arrogance” of his colleagues.
“These people need to understand it’s done when I say it’s done, when I want it to be done, not when they want it to be done,” he added. “That’s kind of where we are there.”
