Washington — Embattled GOP Rep. George Santos survived a second attempt to expel him from Congress on Wednesday after his fellow New York Republicans led a renewed effort to oust him.
The House voted 179-213 in favor of a resolution to expel Santos from Congress, falling short of the two-thirds majority needed to oust a member under the Constitution. Nineteen members voted present.
Santos faces nearly two dozen federal criminal charges accusing him of fraud, money laundering, campaign finance violations and other crimes. He has pleaded not guilty.
In remarks on the House floor before the vote, Santos said the expulsion effort was "politically motivated" and that his removal from office would set a "dangerous precedent."
Santos accused those who sought to expel him of acting as "judge, jury and executioner."
"I stand firmly in my innocence," Santos said.
He first escaped expulsion after he was originally charged in May, when Republicans successfully blocked a Democratic effort to remove him and instead referred the matter to a House committee for further investigation. He was hit with more charges last month, leading a group of his fellow New York Republicans to renew the effort to oust him.
If the resolution had been successful, Santos would have become just the sixth House member to be expelled from Congress. The most recent expulsion came in 2002, when Rep. James Traficant was removed from office after being convicted of 10 corruption-related felonies.
Ahead of the vote, five GOP lawmakers from the Empire State urged their Republican colleagues to support their resolution expelling Santos.
A letter that circulated Wednesday by first-term Reps. Nick LaLota, Anthony D'Esposito, Marcus Molinaro, Brandon Williams and Mike Lawler addressed concerns about expelling Santos before he's been criminally convicted, as well as fears that doing so would narrow Republicans' already slim majority in the House. All five Republicans face competitive races next year.
"We agree it would set a precedent, but a positive one," the letter said, adding that "this issue is not a political issue, but a moral one."
But not enough of their Republican colleagues were moved to give the measure the two-thirds support it needed to pass.
The three-page resolution listed roughly a dozen justifications for Santos' expulsion, including his criminal charges and the series of lies he told about his background before he was elected to Congress in November 2022. "[A]s a result of these actions, George Santos is not fit to serve his constituents as a United States Representative," it says. The resolution is "privileged," meaning the House was required to bring it up for a vote soon after its introduction last week.
Santos has pleaded not guilty to 23 federal charges accusing him of stealing his campaign donors' identities and racking up thousands of dollars in unauthorized charges on their credit cards, falsifying campaign finance reports, money laundering and other crimes.
The five Republicans leading the renewed effort to expel Santos voted against a Democratic push to oust him from Congress in May. The matter was instead referred to the House Ethics Committee, which said Tuesday it would announce its "next course of action" in its investigation by Nov. 17.
Depending on what the committee decides about Santos' alleged conduct, it could recommend censure, expulsion or other punishments. The House would still have to vote on whether to expel or censure Santos if he is still in Congress at that point.
Scott MacFarlane contributed reporting.
New York Republicans' l... by Stefan Becket
Caitlin Yilek is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital. Reach her at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/hausofcait
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