American elected official George Santos, December 1, 2023 (AFP / Mandel NGAN)
His escapades no longer please the American Congress: elected Republican George Santos, distinguished by repeated lies and accused of financial crimes, was indicted by his colleagues on Friday.
About a hundred Republicans and more than 200 Democrats voted to remove the 30-year-old. The House of Representatives has only used such a sanction five times in its history.
After his election in November 2022 and after revelations in the New York Times, George Santos was forced to admit that he had lied about entire parts of his life in order to whitewash his resume.
He had to admit that he had never worked for the major American banks Goldman Sachs or Citigroup and did not have a degree from New York University (NYU).
Elected from New York State, he was also charged with defrauding his donors and money laundering and electronic fraud. He pleaded not guilty.
– Botox and OnlyFans –
The elected official whose fraud caused a stir on social media has long managed to overcome calls for his resignation that were voiced at his inauguration by elected officials from both parties.
Until the publication of a report by the House of Representatives Ethics Committee in which he was accused of having “severely discredited” the institution.
According to the commission, the elected official “attempted to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his candidacy for his personal financial gain” and “constantly lied to his constituents, his donors and his team about his past and experiences.”
Republican Representative from New York in the House of Representatives George Santos speaks with his colleague Marjorie Taylor Greene in the chamber in Washington on January 5, 2023 (GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / WIN MCNAMEE)
According to the report, the elected official used the embezzled money to make purchases at the luxury store Ferragamo, at a casino, for cosmetic treatments using “Botox” and on the platform OnlyFans, where users can share their sexual videos and photos.
George Santos responded by calling this text a “political slander” while assuring that he will not run for a new term in 2024.
He was also accused of exaggerating reality by portraying himself as an “American who was proud to be Jewish” or the grandson of Holocaust survivors who fled Nazi barbarism, and refused to resign.
– “I have accepted my fate” –
On Friday morning, however, the elected official appeared resigned.
New Republican elected to the House of Representatives George Santos, January 3, 2023 (AFP / Mandel NGAN)
“I have accepted my fate. If God’s will is for me to stay here, I will stay, if God’s will is for me to go, I will go,” he told Fox News on Friday morning, just hours before the vote.
He had been subpoenaed by Republican-majority House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest, who deemed him “unworthy to serve as a member of this institution.”
A previous expulsion motion was rejected because it did not receive the required two-thirds majority of MPs present.
The last elected House member to be expelled by his colleagues was an Ohio Democrat, James Traficant, who was removed in 2002 on 10 charges, including corruption. The following week he was sentenced to eight years in prison.