Bowman says if Santos were a Black man, it would be a ‘wrap’ for him

“America has a long history of when a Black man steps one toe out of line, it’s a wrap for him,” said Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y.

Though indicted U.S. Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., is facing another threat of expulsion from Congress amidst his legal troubles, Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., says that if the freshman Republican were a Black man, there is a chance he would have been ejected months ago.

Bowman told theGrio that based on “historical and empirical evidence” of the Republican Party and “anything representative of white supremacy like the Republican Party,” Santos, who is Brazilian-American, would’ve likely already been removed if he were African American.

“Because that’s how they get down,” said Bowman. “America has a long history of when a Black man steps one toe out of line, it’s a wrap for him.”

On the other hand, Bowman suggested another reason the Republican congressman has not been stripped of his seat is that Santos was a critical vote for electing Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as House Speaker in January. 

“He needed the votes to pass his nonsense legislation,” he said, adding, “Let’s see if it even goes through. I’ll be surprised to see if enough members vote him out.”

Congressman Bowman’s remarks come as members of the House of Representatives are set to vote on a measure to expel the embattled New York congressman on Friday.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., told theGrio, “The American people are tired of the extreme MAGA Republican three-ring circus led by George Santos and Marjorie Taylor Greene.” 

In recent months, Santos survived previous attempts made to remove him from office. However, Santos told reporters at a press conference on Thursday that he’s not certain how the House majority will vote. 

“It’s an unfortunate circumstance that I had to sit here and watch Congress waste the American people’s time over and over again on something that is the power of the people, not the power of Congress, which is to elect and remove members of Congress,” he said.

Earlier this week, House Speaker Mike Johnson said he had reservations about expelling the New York lawmaker. Yet, some House Republicans believe they can garner the two-thirds majority needed to pass the expulsion resolution.

Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nev., chairman of Congressional Black Caucus, told theGrio, “Republicans are still determining what their course of action” should be. 

“No one is above being held accountable, and there’s a process before Congress to allow that so that that debate will happen, and we’ll see what the final decision is,” said Horsford.

However, he said it was “not lost” on him that due to the “extensive” House Committee on Ethics report detailing Santos’ alleged actions that include money laundering, the “egregious” allegations have been “substantiated.”

That “calls into question even criminal activity,” Horsford added.

The vote to expel Santos comes two weeks after the ethics committee’s scathing report, which provided evidence that he engaged in nefarious activities during his campaign runs for Congress in 2020 and 2022. 

The subcommittee’s findings include that Santos frauded donors and his constituents and pillaged funds for personal gain. The committee also outlined that he knowingly violated federal ethics law when he neglected to file financial disclosure statements with the U.S. House of Representatives.        

The incriminating report comes more than a month after the U.S. Department of Justice handed down a 23-count indictment against Santos, which includes one count of conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, two counts of making materially false statements to the Federal Election Commission, and two counts of aggravated identity theft. 

Bowman said that if Santos is canned from his post, “Good riddance. It’s long overdue.”

“This place is an extreme circus under Republican leadership anyway, and to get one of the clowns out is a beautiful thing,” he said.

“I just want to get to the work of the people, and all of these distractions, like Santos and messaging bills about nothing, have been really discouraging,” Bowman added. “So hopefully, getting him out is one step closer to getting the majority and then actually governing for the people.”

If expelled, Santos would become only the sixth member of the House to be ousted for misconduct in over 200 years.

The congressman told reporters at Thursday’s press conference, “They’re trying to join me to the group of three confederates and two people convicted in the court of law.”

“If I am to get expelled tomorrow, I will be number six, the first Republican and the only one without a conviction or without having committed treason,” he said.

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