The US Congress on Friday impeached Republican George Santos, an elected official known for his repeated lies and accused of financial crimes.
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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 admitted that he had never worked for the major American banks Goldman Sachs or Citigroup and that he did not have a degree from New York University (NYU).
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.
George Santos, 35, was also charged with defrauding his donors, as well as money laundering and electronic fraud. He pleaded not guilty.
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“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.
On November 17, Republican-majority House Ethics Committee Chairman Michael Guest filed a motion to expel George Santos, deeming him “unworthy to serve as a member” of that institution.
Earlier this month, a previous expulsion motion was rejected because it did not receive the required two-thirds majority of MPs present.
But after the House Ethics Committee released a report that accused it of “seriously discrediting” the institution, many elected officials said they were ready to change their minds. About 100 Republicans and more than 200 Democrats voted to oust him on Friday.
The last elected official to be expelled from the House by his colleagues was 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.