[ad_1]
Now that the House of Representatives lastly has a speaker, the nation’s consideration is popping again to the destiny of a first-term Congress member from Long Island with a passion for sweaters. After experiences that George Santos fabricated elements of his résumé surfaced in December, his political fortunes at the moment are front-page information once more. The hallway exterior the New York Republican’s workplace has change into a veritable cable information studio as reporters and cameras stake him out to get recent pictures of Santos dodging questions.
While Santos has confronted criticism for weeks from Democrats over his lengthy and elaborate historical past of lies about his biography, now prime Republicans in his district are denouncing him. On Wednesday, at a press convention in New York, Santos was condemned by the chair of the Nassau County Republican Party, the Nassau county government, and Anthony D’Esposito, the newly elected GOP Congress member from a neighboring district — all of them demanded that Santos resign. This was adopted by the New York Conservative Party demanding that Santos resign in a press launch that described him as morally disqualified from serving in public workplace.
The query is what Santos does now. These are 4 doable situations.
Santos is expelled from workplace
Once he turned a representative-elect, the House was constitutionally required to seat Santos, however now that he’s a member, he may be expelled at any time. The Constitution gives that the House can expel any member “with the Concurrence of two-thirds.” As Josh Chafetz, a constitutional legislation professor at Georgetown, stated, this could occur “for basically any reason” and isn’t legally reviewable.
However, expulsion is uncommon in American historical past and solely 5 members of the House have ever been expelled. Three have been Confederates, and two refused to resign after being convicted of corruption. (The most up-to-date was Rep. Jim Traficant, an eccentric Democrat from Ohio identified for his unruly hairpiece and behavior of ending each ground speech with the phrase “beam me up.”) As Chafetz famous, “when it becomes plausible that a congressman might be expelled, they usually resign in order to prevent the embarrassment.”
Santos resigns
Santos has insisted on Twitter, “I will NOT resign!” However, the precariousness of his place is made clear by the truth that he felt it essential to adamantly insist that he’s not leaving Capitol Hill solely days after arriving in Washington. Not solely is he already dealing with state and native felony investigations, however he’s additionally the topic of complaints to the House Ethics Committee. One grievance to the House Ethics Committee was hand-delivered by two fellow members of the New York delegation, Reps. Dan Goldman (D-NY) and Ritchie Torres (D-NY), to a media frenzy.
In an interview with Vox Wednesday, former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), who resigned from Congress after his personal scandal in 2011, stated {that a} congressional ethics investigation is “not an easy process and not a cheap process.” Weiner recalled when he was advised by Democratic superlawyer Marc Elias that it might price $1 million in authorized charges if he had stayed in workplace and confronted investigation. (Weiner added the caveat that Elias was making an attempt to persuade him to resign on the time.) The House Ethics Committee, which operates on a bipartisan foundation, solely has authority over sitting House members and may suggest sanctions for violations of House guidelines that require a majority vote to be adopted.
If he did resign, a particular election could be held on a date chosen by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, and the nominees could be chosen by get together committees, not by a main. Further, if Republicans are keen to carry on to Santos’s seat, they may calculate that their likelihood is higher in a low-turnout particular election than by ready till November 2024, when voters are more likely to revert to their conventional partisan corners, notably in a district that Joe Biden gained in 2020.
Then once more, there isn’t any motive for Santos to care concerning the opinions of different Republicans — notably those that have already referred to as for him to depart workplace. In an interview with Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) on Steve Bannon’s podcast, Santos was defiant: “It’s their prerogative … I wish well all of their opinions, but I was elected by 142,000 people. Until those same 142,000 people tell me they don’t want me — we’ll find out in two years.”
Further, a direct Santos resignation would enormously cut back his leverage if prosecutors do flip up misconduct in investigating his questionable funds. Instead, it legally makes extra sense to save lots of any resignation as a part of plea cut price negotiations the place it is likely one of the few playing cards that he would have accessible.
Santos doesn’t run once more
There have been experiences that Santos has already reassured prime Republicans in his district that he doesn’t plan to run once more. Considering that he’s now a political punchline who’s underneath state, native, and federal investigation, a willingness to not search reelection just isn’t a lot of a concession. Every revelation by Santos solely makes him appear extra ridiculous. On Wednesday, it was revealed that he lied to Republican officers about enjoying on a championship-winning volleyball group at Baruch College — not solely did Santos not play on the group, he didn’t attend Baruch College. The New York Times additionally printed a replica of the résumé that Santos had circulated when operating for workplace, which included false claims about his school training and employment historical past.
By bunkering down, Santos would proceed to gather a federal wage and advantages, when it’s unclear what different sources of revenue he has and the way else he would cowl his authorized prices as his authorized woes mount. It additionally would assist new House Speaker Kevin McCarthy maintain on to his slim, five-seat majority. If Santos resigns, there’s no assure he would get replaced by a fellow Republican. While Republicans may need higher possibilities of holding the seat in a particular election than in the event that they wait till November, it may not be value playing a swing seat when the present majority is so tenuous.
Santos is reelected
LOL. Not even George Santos might make up a state of affairs the place this could occur.
Update, January 13, 12:15 pm ET: This story was initially printed on January 12 and has been up to date with Santos’s feedback on requires him to resign.
