[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 197 (Thursday, November 30, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H5995-H5996]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               EXPULSION OF REPRESENTATIVE GEORGE SANTOS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Ivey) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. IVEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on this solemn occasion to urge 
my colleagues to take the rare step of exercising the expulsion clause 
of the United States Constitution.
  Congressman George Santos has failed to uphold the principles of 
scrupulous, selfless public service. He has violated the law and he has 
violated this body's ethics rules.
  As a member of the Ethics Committee, I can report that the evidence 
against him is substantial and damning. I can also report that there 
was no rush to judgment.
  During the course of our investigation, the Ethics Committee 
authorized 37 subpoenas, issued 43 requests for information, obtained 
and reviewed over 172,000 pages of documents, interviewed over 40 
witnesses, and reviewed relevant public information, including the 
Federal indictments in the criminal case in New York.
  Our bipartisan investigation revealed that he laundered $50,000 of 
his campaign donors' money through two personal accounts and spent it 
on himself on designer clothes, a car payment, a credit card, and 
personal debts.

  He cheated the government out of $24,000 in unemployment benefits 
during the pandemic when he was earning a salary of $120,000 from an 
investment firm.
  He lied and said he loaned his unsuccessful campaign for Congress 
over $80,000, and repaid himself for the fictitious loan, netting a 
personal profit of $27,000.
  In the second--this time successful campaign for Congress--he lied 
again, this time to the tune of $500,000.
  He also transferred and hid from the FEC a sum of $50,000 from his 
congressional campaign to his State Political Action Committee. He 
spent over $40,000 of campaign funds on personal expenses, like 
expensive travel and meals, casino stays, an adult website, and 
cosmetic procedures, personally enriching himself at his donors' 
expense--all of this on top of his constant lying about his resume and 
his family history.
  There are charges of fraud, identity theft, credit card skimming, and 
swindling a disabled veteran.
  In short, the evidence of criminal and ethical violations is 
extensive and overwhelming.
  Mr. Santos has complained that he has not received due process. He 
also suggested that he was unaware of the fraud and misconduct, 
apparently trying to shift the blame to his treasurer and others.
  Mr. Santos worked closely with his treasurer, who pled guilty just 
last month to her role in this scheme. The text messages they exchanged 
about the fake loans show that he was a knowing and active participant 
in the misconduct.
  The campaign staffers we interviewed as part of our investigation 
also made clear that he was certainly aware of the campaign's financial 
abuses.

[[Page H5996]]

  In addition, his campaign consultants gave him a 141-page 
vulnerability report that detailed many of his frauds and lies. They 
demanded that he drop out of the race. When he refused--just like he is 
doing today--three of his staffers quit in protest.
  The Ethics Committee also offered Mr. Santos a chance to meet with us 
for an interview or deposition to explain his side. He has done 
countless interviews and gave a press conference just a few feet from 
here earlier this morning, but somehow he never found time to meet with 
us. Somehow he never even tried to offer a plausible explanation for 
his conduct. In fact, all he said today was that he would address our 
report at a later time.
  He said something over the weekend that stuck with me. He said he 
would wear expulsion as a badge of honor. When all this is over, I am 
afraid he won't be wearing a badge of honor, he will be wearing an 
orange jumpsuit.
  This is a historic moment. The House has only expelled five Members 
in our entire history.
  The Constitution is clear that we don't have to wait until Mr. Santos 
is remanded to the Bureau of Prisons before we can vote to expel him 
from the House of Representatives.
  The Constitution is also clear in the safeguards it provides to 
ensure that the power to expel a duly elected Member was not abused. 
The Framers--in their wisdom--set the high bar of a two-thirds vote.
  Unlike some of the rushed motions to censure that we have seen here 
on this floor just in the past year, Mr. Santos received a full and 
extensive investigation, and a detailed report from the Ethics 
Committee. The evidence of criminal and ethical misconduct is 
extensive, overwhelming, and undisputed.
  Finally, the Ethics Committee's investigation and report was 
bipartisan, and its findings were unanimous.
  Given all of these safeguards and all of this evidence, now is the 
time to hold Mr. Santos accountable. Now is the time to show the 
American people that we can hold ourselves to at least a minimal 
standard of conduct. Now is the time to vote to expel George Santos 
from the United States House of Representatives.

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