Embattled George Santos expelled from House in historic vote: Live updates

I first realised this about the now-expelled New York Republican during the speaker’s race in October, when he started shouting at a pro-Palestinian activist who had questioned him earlier. I had caught him coming out of the meeting room in the Longworth House Office Building and asked him about Jim Jordan when he caught the activist and shouted “you are human scum.”

Immediately, all of the reporters moved from covering the GOP disarray and zeroed in on him, effectively turning it into a reality show. And that’s how he wanted it. He got all of the Washington press corps, the House Republican conference and even some Democrats to play along with his charade as he distracted from his legal troubles.

Mr Santos has been ousted from his role following a damning 56-page report from the House Ethics Committee which outlined “substantial evidence” that he violated federal law.

The report claims Mr Santos used campaign money on Botox, OnlyFans, designer fashion and personal purchases.

A two-thirds majority was needed to expel the New York representative – 311 members backed his ouster while 114 voted against it and two members voted present.

Mr Santos is due to stand trial on 23 federal charges in September 2024.

After less than two years in Congress, his list of lies and scandals finally caught up with him, as he was ousted from Congress following the release of a damning House Ethics Committee report.

Though the entire GOP leadership opposed his removal, 105 Republicans joined with Democrats in pushing him out.

The committee report appeared to be the final nail in the coffin, finding “substantial evidence” that Mr Santos had broken federal laws after finding “additional uncharged and unlawful conduct,” which included using campaign funds to make purchases at Hermes, Sephora and OnlyFans.

In 2022, Mr Santos was elected as the Republican Party’s first openly gay, non-incumbent member of Congress, and touted himself as a living embodiment of the American dream.

Scandal-plagued New York Rep George Santos has now joined an exclusive group of people he never wanted to be part of: lawmakers who have been expelled from Congress.

Though the entire GOP leadership opposed the expulsion, 105 Republicans joined with Democrats in pushing him out.

Mr Santos, 35, appeared to accept his fate in a broadcast on the X social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, days earlier.

In the X Space event hosted by Monica Matthews, a rightwing personality, Mr Santos said: “I know I’m going to get expelled when this expulsion resolution goes to the floor.

“I have done the math over and over and it doesn’t look really good,” he said, claiming that he would wear his expulsion “like a badge of honour”.

The latest blow of many to Mr Santos’s short yet tumultuous political career came in the form of a 56-page report from the House Ethics Committee released in early November which outlined “substantial evidence” that Mr Santos violated federal law.

Facing a mountain of scandals and lies, George Santos was finally kicked out of Congress on 1 December.

Over 100 Republicans joined Democrats to vote overwhelmingly in favour of expelling the serial fabulist and accused fraudster from the House.

The move came in the wake of a damning report by the House Ethics Committee, which found that the embattled New York Republican engaged in “uncharged and unlawful conduct.”

Mr Santos has in fact been charged, too. In May, he was arrested and charged with 13 federal criminal counts, including wire fraud, money laundering, and theft of public funds. A superseding indictment was later handed down in October, increasing the federal charges against Mr Santos to 23.

The lengthy report from the committee published in early November stated that there was credible evidence to indicate that the Republican misused campaign funds for a wide range of personal expenses, committed fraud, and misled the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

It was a damning end to a months-long investigation which had, until then, been Mr Santos’s golden ticket to survive the repeated efforts by his fellow lawmakers — including Republicans from his own state — to kick him out of Congress.

The US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to expel now-former congressman George Santos of New York, with 105 of his Republicans joining every Democrat to remove the embattled member from office.

Mr Santos joined the ranks of five other members of Congress–all of them Democrats and three of whom were members of the Confederacy–to be expelled, which he said he considered a badge of honor.

Votes to expel members of Congress are extraordinarily rare and require a two-thirds majority of the House of Representatives. The vote came after Speaker Mike Johnson and most of House Republican leadership voted to keep him in the House of Representatives.

The vote bookends Mr Santos’s spectacularly bizarre jaunt as a candidate and elected official. After initially losing his race in a district in Long Island in 2020, Mr Santos and a handful of Republicans flipped seats that had voted for President Joe Biden in 2022 when Democrats in New York underperformed amid concerns about crime. Mr Santos seemed to represent a new type of Republican as a gay Latino man with Brazilian heritage.

“I had no skin in the game,” he added when asked if he knew he was about to be removed.

“You know what? As unofficially no longer a member of Congress, I no longer have to answer your questions,” he told the press.

Other freshmen who flipped seats such as Reps Lori Chavez-DeRemer of Oregon’s 5th district, Jen Kiggans of Virginia’s 2nd also voted to boot the 35-year-old. Many of them know that Mr Santos is a drag on their brand and needed to kick him out. For instance, Rep John Duarte of California’s 13th district, who also voted to expel, only won his district by 564 votes.

In addition, other Republicans such as Reps Don Bacon of Nebraska and Brian Fitzpatrick, who are considered more moderate Republicans who voted to certify the 2020 presidential election results, also voted to kick him out.

At the same time, House Republican leadership, including Speaker Mike Johnson; House Majority Leader Steve Scalise; fellow New Yorker and House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer all voted to keep him in Congress.