Washington-. Republicans in the US House of Representatives will vote this afternoon on a motion to refer a Democrat-backed resolution expelling Rep. George Santos to the Ethics Committee.
This resolution was tabled yesterday by Congressman Robert García and is privileged, meaning conservative leaders must schedule a vote for Thursday.
However, according to a report by NBC News, Republicans will try to avoid comment on the bill itself, referring it to the House of Commons Ethics Committee, which has been investigating Santos since early March.
The president of that legislature, Kevin McCarthy, has asserted that he prefers his bank’s approach to the issue rather than starting a process to have Santos expelled from Congress.
For his part, Garcia described the maneuver as an “escape,” adding that it requires a real expulsion exercise.
Rep. Dan Goldman, a former federal prosecutor, suggested that the Ethics Committee take no action on the resolution and instead refer it to the Department of Justice (DOJ), which indicted Santos on 13 federal matters last week.
“Prosecutors will ask the committee to pause and prioritize their prosecution. It’s the nature of these things,” he said.
Last week, Santos pleaded not guilty in a court in Long Island, New York, after being charged with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of stealing public funds and two counts of materially misrepresenting the House of Representatives. of representatives, according to the DOJ.
The Republican, who previously admitted to lying about his biography, called the trial against him a “witch hunt” and ruled out stepping down from office.
According to analysts, the support McCarthy is giving to Santos is due to Republicans’ need to retain their meager majority in the House of Commons, for which they cannot afford to lose even one of their seats.