Will George Santos Face Any Consequences?

It may be up to voters in 2024 to mete out punishment to the New York Republican: A Dispatch Explainer.

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Rep. George Santos is seen in the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, January 12, 2023. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images.)

New York Rep. George Santos continues to rebuff calls to resign from dozens of lawmakers—including prominent Republicans from his state and district—as his flurry of scandals continues to grow. 

The freshman lawmaker is currently under criminal investigation and could face a variety of penalties from Congress, but whether fellow Republicans have the political will to punish Santos on their own remains to be seen.

Should his House colleagues choose to pursue them, Santos could face three main disciplinary actions in that chamber: expulsion, censure, and reprimand. Those would likely come from a recommendation from the House Ethics Committee. The panel’s rules state that “reprimand is appropriate for serious violations, censure is appropriate for more serious violations, and expulsion of a Member … is appropriate for the most serious violations.” The Ethics Committee can also sometimes recommend the House levy fines or other “monetary assessments” on a member in connection with these disciplinary actions.

Expulsion

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  1. Chipwatkins

    Expelling Mr. Santos would be anti-democratic, but should be pursued if he is convicted of a crime. Given that that's unlikely to occur before the next election, let him be ousted by his erstwhile constituents. Meanwhile, they, the New York Times, and other local journalists can repent of their sloth in discovering the truth.

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  2. Blaise V Jones

    Republicans should move to expel him ASAP. The majority is razor thin with or without him seated. It's hard to believe that if Republican leadership pushed for expulsion they could not get 2/3 of the H of R to vote this psychotic loser out. Would Democrats not vote for expulsion just to keep him present and embarrassing Republicans? Perhaps, but that would tarnish them nearly as much and therefore benefit McCarthy. This is another example of the weakness of the political parties and the damage resulting from that weakness.

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  3. DTruitt

    Why do we care? I mean really, why does The Dispatch spill so much digital ink talking about this doofus?

    We know for a fact that Congress has a great many grifters, maniacs, idiots, and criminals that serve in it, and always have served in Congress, and always will served in Congress. Mostly because idiot voters put them there after either failing to do their due diligence, or even being fully aware, vote for them anyway out of extreme partisanship, or because they like their hair, or because they brought home the bacon (i.e., Federal taxpayer money flowing to their district).

    That is not to suggest that Congress is dominated by such idiots, morons, shysters, and convicts .. rather, most are rather serious people, even though they are forced to play the usual political games to get into office and then stay there.

    But focusing so much of the space created by The Dispatch on this one idiot is missing the boat on the overall debate of government policies. There are plenty of embarrassing morons in the Democrat party, but focusing on The Squad or those who got caught sharing "wiener" pics with young women is also missing the boat.

    The Dispatch needs to be a serious forum, not the equivalent of a supermarket checkout stand publication.

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    Cthocas

    I suspect legal proceedings will be slow enough he serves out his two year term, and the next term he serves will be one in prison.

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      Lorenclayroberts

      I like your optimism.

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    2. Kevin Dolan

      I hesitate to ask, but am not following this very closely, but has his mendacity reached the level of criminality?

      Based on my limited knowledge, expulsion would be appropriate, but I don’t think for a second the Democrats would do it if they were in a similar position. Not that I think living down to Democrats standards should be the metric.

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    Robert Knudson

    Unless Santos is prosecuted he won't be kicked out. That being said, it is a measure of McCarthy's (and the Republican Party's) desperate state that Santos is recognized as a Republican and holds Republican committee assignments. Party affiliation requires making common cause with some undesirable individuals, but its indicative of party weakness that an individual with Mr. Santos' background (and that of his multiple aliases) is welcome in the tent. Hopefully the Republican tent has indoor plumbing.

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  6. Raincheck

    Grifters deserve representation too!

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  7. Pundette

    This man is mentally ill and needs help. I work in a middle school, for heaven's sake, and if it was discovered that I had lied in this way about this much, I would be walked out the door same day carrying a cardboard box full of my personal belongings. A pathologically lying mentally ill congressman gets to decide for himself whether he stays or goes? Sounds like something needs fixing.

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      Scarlette Tarte

      It can be a crime, in certain circumstances, to misrepresent yourself. Why is it not this way for public office? Why can any private sector job kick you out for lying about yourself or your experience, but voters can't?

      The people of that district SHOULD be able to recall him in this circumstance and be given a new election, or his opponent should just be seated for the duration.

      That voters have no recourse but to wait for the next election is horrific, and certainly not befitting our Republic.

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  8. Betsybowditch

    Rep George Santos is not that different from LA City Councilman Kevin de León, who was caught chiming in a recording in which crude and racist stereotypes were thrown around by several of his colleagues as they dissected the county electorate.

    He alone has refused to resign claiming “I will not resign because there is a lot of work ahead” and he can’t be forced out. He knows this is the end of political career and probably doesn’t want to lose the six-figure salary.

    Santos is presumably motivated by the need to keep the paychecks coming. What could change his calculus is if he were subjected to an ethics probe. In that case, he would have to bear the legal costs and they would be prohibitive.

    A lot of the other investigations wouldn’t disappear if he resigned but a House ethics investigation would.

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      Kizedek

      Would be nice to think that Ethics comes into it somewhere. But it sounds like the GOP has politically weaponized that committee.

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      1. Emma

        Ethics committee is a joke.

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  9. Goatprairie

    Should a skunk like Santos be in Congress? No.
    Should people outside his district i.e. not the people who voted him in decide that he cannot be a Congress critter? No.
    If we kicked out of Congress all the liars and assorted swine, how many Congress critters would be left? Probably count them on your fingers and toes. Maybe just fingers.

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      Jonmckny

      Saying that Santos and other members of Congress are liars is like saying Rafael Nadal and I both play tennis. Technically true but misses an ocean of nuance (For the record I played for a year in Junior High). The constitution gives the power to expel a member from congress and this is an instance it should be used. The GOP can’t keep running these insane candidates and expect to retain any credibility.

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      1. Goatprairie

        "The GOP can’t keep running these insane candidates and expect to retain any credibility."


        Yeah, I agree. But the Republican Party is still well behind the Democrat Party in numbers of liars and scoundrels.

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          Dhubers

          Whataboutism? I don't disagree with you. But the topic here is George Santos not any other liars & scoundrels. And misses an ocean of nuance...

          Saying that Santos and other members of Congress are liars is like saying Rafael Nadal and I both play tennis. Technically true but misses an ocean of nuance (For the record I played for a year in Junior High).

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          1. Goatprairie

            I'm not trying to exculpate Santos from what he's done
            . Nevertheless, many of the people screeching about Santos are totally ignoring the fantastic liars in their own party. It's called pointing out hypocrisy. Not that I'd accuse you of being a hypocrite.
            People who live in glass houses and all that.

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        2. BadgerBill

          Really? What’s your “liars and scoundrels” scale? Is it objective (eg-number of patent lies as judged by X Fact-checker” or “number of times said one thing about subject A, then completely contradictory claim on subject A as demonstrated by Contradiction Fact-checking Service, LLC”) or is it “subjective” (number of times that person said something that bugged me based on a “that bugged me”scale).

          Statements such as “The Republican Parry is still well behind the Democrat (sic) Party in number of liars and scoundrels” is just such silly nonsense.

          Know how I know you’re not serious? You use the pejorative of “Democrat Party”. It’s the Democratic Party. “Democrat Party” has been a slur since at least the ‘40s. It’s just silly, tiresome name calling, like “tRump”or “Dimocrats”. Eye rollingly boring.

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          1. Goatprairie

            But not boring enough that you weren't irritated. Which means I accomplished something.
            Thanks for the unhinged rant.

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      Abridge683

      Peggy Noonan has it right over at the WSJ. Santos is so much a scumbag that he makes everyone else look almost saintly. But, I suppose, he's your (GOP's) scumbag and he votes with the GOP or ELSE. So find all the reasons to keep him. Just count the silver whenever he leaves your offices.

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      1. Goatprairie

        Ha, ha, ha,.....I think I made it pretty clear that we don't need people like Santos in Congress or any elected office.
        Nevertheless, you liberals keep displaying your egregious hypocrisy by not acknowledging all the fantastic liars and scoundrels in your own party.
        Biden has lied throughout his career. He actually might be a worse liar than Trump though not quite the scoundrel.
        You've got a horde of other major league liars and scoundrels in party. Liars, anti-Semites, anti-Americans.
        Why don't you stop being a huge hypocrite and admit it?

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        1. BadgerBill

          BORING. The issue is Santos. “But what about Biden”? Do you buy the “other kids are doing it” defense with your kids? No, I didn’t think so. The “whataboutism” and calling people liberals is BORING.

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          1. Goatprairie

            I'm not defending Santos. I'd like to see him gone.
            I'm simply pointing out the hypocrisy of libs who are screeching about Santos but ignoring the lies of many people in their own party...especially the guy at the top who is the worst liar of all.

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    DougAz

    Been a 20 years since an expulsion from the House.

    https://history.house.gov/Institution/Discipline/Expulsion-Censure-Reprimand/

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      Abridge683

      It's TIME!

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