Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., blasted the congressional ethics report and the upcoming vote to expel him from Congress on Thursday.
Santos held a press conference in front of the U.S. Capitol in the morning, making threats and calling on the press to investigate fellow members of Congress. He also vowed to file a motion calling for the expulsion of Rep. Jamal Bowman, D-N.Y., who pleaded guilty to falsely pulling a fire alarm this fall.
“If the House wants to start a different precedent and expel me, that is going to be the undoing of a lot of members of this body because this will haunt them in the future,” he warned.
“I came in here as a mad-as-hell activist and… I got to see how the sausage is made. I get to take that story back to the American people… I’m proud of the work I put forward. If this is it, then this is it,” he added, saying he would likely release a statement later in the day.
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Santos went on to say he plans to file a privileged motion for expulsion of “convicted, guilty-pleaded Congressman Jamal Bowman.” He claimed that anyone else who pulled a fire alarm during a congressional hearing would have been charged with obstruction.
The expulsion vote against Santos arose from a slew of accusations against him, including campaign finance abuses.
Santos has survived two other efforts to oust him from Congress in recent weeks, but the third time may be the charm for lawmakers who believe Santos is unfit to serve.
The House sidetracked two previous efforts to expel Santos – never directly casting a ballot on his worthiness to be a House member.
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Those who opposed the plan to expel Santos fell short of defending him, however. They instead noted that a court has never convicted Santos of alleged wrongdoing.
A report from the House Ethics Committee found that Santos “used campaign funds for personal purposes” and “engaged in fraudulent conduct,” among other allegations.
Article I, Section 5 of the Constitution grants each body of Congress the ultimate authority over who is sworn in, rules of proceedings, and how to discipline and “with the Concurrence of two-thirds, expel a Member.”
Fox News’ Michael Dorgan contributed to this report
