House Ethics Committee Finds Evidence George Santos Broke Federal Law, Santos Will Not Seek Re-Election

It’s not looking good for Rep. George Santos.

via: NBC News

The House Ethics Committee on Thursday released its much-anticipated report on its monthslong investigation into Santos, concluding there is “substantial evidence” the New York Republican “violated federal criminal laws,” including using campaign funds for personal purposes and filing false campaign reports.

The Ethics subcommittee tasked with investigating Santos found “a complex web of unlawful activity involving Representative Santos’ campaign, personal, and business finances,” the scathing report states. “Representative Santos sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal financial profit.”

“He blatantly stole from his campaign. He deceived donors into providing what they thought were contributions to his campaign but were in fact payments for his personal benefit. He reported fictitious loans to his political committees to induce donors and party committees to make further contributions to his campaign—and then diverted more campaign money to himself as purported ‘repayments’ of those fictitious loans,” the report continues.

Santos “used his connections to high-value donors and other political campaigns” to enrich himself, the report contends. “And he sustained all of this through a constant series of lies to his constituents, donors, and staff about his background and experience,” it says.

The Ethics Committee said it is referring its findings, including “uncharged” conduct, to the Justice Department. It did not make a recommendation to the House.

The DOJ has already charged Santos on multiple federal counts, including identity theft, money laundering and theft of public funds. He is set to go on trial in September and has pleaded not guilty.

Santos has, meanwhile, rejected calls for his resignation, saying his political future should be left up to New York voters. The Ethics Committee said that Santos did not cooperate with the probe, and only provided limited responses that included “misstatements” and “falsehoods.”

Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., said on Thursday that he plans to again submit a privileged resolution to expel Santos from Congress when the House returns to Washington on Nov. 28.

Santos will not seek re-election in 2024. The scandal-plagued congressman made the announcement in a lengthy post on X shortly after the House Ethics Committee released a damning report on his conduct.

“I will continue on my mission to serve my constituents up until I am allowed,” wrote Santos. “I will however NOT be seeking re-election for a second term in 2024 as my family deserves better than to be under the gun from the press all the time.”

If there was a single ounce of ETHICS in the “Ethics committee”, they would have not released this biased report. The Committee went to extraordinary lengths to smear myself and my legal team about me not being forthcoming (My legal bills suggest otherwise).

It is a disgusting…

— George Santos (@MrSantosNY) November 16, 2023

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