GOP leaders not ready to expel Santos Expel George Santos? GOP leaders aren't ready to take that step

WASHINGTON - Protecting a narrow, four-vote majority, Republican leaders in the House are making clear that they intend to let the legal process play out with New York Rep. George Santos before they take steps to force his resignation or expel him.

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday accused the freshman congressman of embezzling money from his campaign, falsely receiving unemployment funds and lying to Congress about his finances and he could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Santos pleaded not guilty.

Republican leaders, who for months faced mounting questions about Santos after most of his campaign biography was exposed as a lie, were unmoved and brushed aside calls - including from some colleagues - that they push Santos out of Congress.

"In America, there's a presumption of innocence. But they're serious charges. He's going to have to go through the legal process," said House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana.

Scalise was seconded by Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, the No. 3 House Republican, who sidestepped the question of whether Santos should resign.

"As I've said from the very beginning on questions on this subject," she said, "this legal process is going to play itself out."

Republican leaders' position generally follows the precedent that Congress set in similar criminal cases over the years. The House expelled just two members in recent decades, and both votes occurred after the lawmaker was convicted on federal charges. However, many say the narrow majority Republicans won in the House is surely another factor.

"There are a few members of the New York delegation and a few others calling for his immediate expulsion on the Republican side, which could tilt the leadership's hand. But given where we're at with the debt limit and a four-vote majority, they don't want to lose any of those votes right now," said Casey Burgat, an assistant professor who leads the legislative affairs program at George Washington University.

Santos is adamant that he will stay in Congress and seek reelection. In a news conference outside a Long Island federal courthouse, he spoke Wednesday of getting back to Washington so he could vote on a top House GOP priority: a border bill that would restrict some asylum seekers and boost border enforcement. It's expected to be a close vote.

He ended up voting for that bill Thursday as well as one that seeks to give states more incentive to pursue cases of unemployment insurance fraud. One of the counts Santos faces is that he fraudulently collected unemployment benefits during the pandemic, even though he was being paid a substantial salary at the time.

Santos also voted last month for the House GOP bill that ties a debt limit extension to an estimated $4.8 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years. In a dramatic flourish, Santos was the last Republican to cast a vote in favor of that bill, helping it win passage by a paper-thin margin - 217-215.

While GOP leaders say the legal system needs to run its course, a few Republicans have seen enough.

"The people of New York's 3rd district deserve a voice in congress," Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, tweeted. "George Santos should be immediately expelled from Congress and a special election initiated at the soonest possible date."

The House and the Senate have the power to punish their members for misconduct, including through expulsion. To date, according to the Congressional Research Service, 20 members have been expelled, but the large majority of them occurred at the outset of the Civil War. Half of the 20 expulsions were the result of a single vote in the Senate involving senators who represented states that seceded from the Union but had not formally resigned.

The two most recent expulsions followed convictions on public corruption charges were:

Rep. Michael J. "Ozzie" Myers, D-Penn., who was convicted of bribery and conspiracy for taking money from FBI agents who posed as Arab sheiks. He was expelled in 1980 following his conviction and served more than a year in prison.Rep. James Traficant, D-Ohio, who was expelled in 2002, three months after he was found guilty of 10 federal charges, including racketeering, bribery and fraud for taking bribes and kickbacks from businessmen and his own staff.

Some lawmakers resigned upon being convicted of a crime, pre-empting an expulsion vote.

Last year, Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., resigned from office after a California jury convicted him of lying to federal authorities about an illegal campaign donation from a foreign national.

Two years earlier, Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., submitted his resignation about a month after pleading guilty to a charge of conspiring with his wife to steal about $250,000 in campaign funds to pay for a lavish lifestyle, from vacations to outings with friends and private school tuition. Then-President Donald Trump pardoned Hunter shortly before he left office.

Trump also pardoned former Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., who resigned in 2019 ahead of admitting to helping his son and others dodge $800,000 in stock market losses when he learned that a drug trial by a small pharmaceutical company failed.

More than three dozen Democratic lawmakers signed on to a bill from Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., that would expel Santos from the House.

Garcia said McCarthy is not pushing to expel Santos because he needs his vote. "He can barely keep his caucus together on votes, so it's clear that he's using George Santos' support to keep him in leadership," Garcia said.

Republicans said there was no discussion of Santos during their weekly, closed-door caucus meeting Wednesday morning.

"I never heard his name mentioned once," said Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga.