Ahead of arraignment, NY Republicans move to expel George Santos from Congress
CENTRAL ISLIP, New York (WABC) -- Rep. George Santos, who will be arraigned Friday on additional federal charges filed earlier this month, now faces a new push from New York Republicans to get him out of Congress.
Prosecutors accuse Santos of stealing people's identities, making purchases on the credit cards of his donors and lying to the House of Representatives.
He is expected to plead not guilty, as he did to the prior charges. Arraignment is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Friday.
Ahead of the arraignment, Rep. Anthony D'Esposito of New York introduced a resolution on Thursday evening to expel Santos from Congress.
Other New York Republicans, including Rep. Molinaro, LaLota and Lawler, were sitting behind D'Esposito in the chamber when he spoke on the floor. Majority Whip Tom Emmer was there as well.
D'Esposito said Santos is not "fit to serve his constituents as a United States representative."
He introduced the resolution as privileged, which means the House must consider it within 2 legislative days.
The House could vote on the resolution as early as next week.
Santos responded to the resolution on social media, writing that he is "entitled to due process and not a predetermined outcome as some are seeking." He added that he will not resign.
Santos was initially arrested in May on a 13-count federal indictment, which charged him with using funds earmarked for campaign expenses on designer clothes and other personal expenses and improperly obtaining unemployment benefits meant for Americans who lost work because of the pandemic.
The new indictment accused Santos of charging more than $44,000 to his campaign over a period of months using cards belonging to contributors without their knowledge. In one case, he charged $12,000 to a contributor's credit card and transferred the "vast majority" of that money into his personal bank account, prosecutors said.
Santos is also accused of falsely reporting to the Federal Elections Commission that he had loaned his campaign $500,000 when he actually hadn't given anything and had less than $8,000 in the bank. The fake loan was an attempt to convince Republican Party officials that he was a serious candidate, worth their financial support, the indictment said.
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Information from ABC News and The Associated Press
RELATED | George Santos: The Man, the Myths, the Lessons | Full Special
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