The Ethics Committee of the House of Representatives in the United States found “substantial evidence” that Congressman George Santos violated federal law, leading the Republican, son of a Brazilian immigrant, to declare on Thursday (16) that he will not seek reelection.
The House investigators found evidence that Santos used campaign funds for personal purposes, defrauded donors, and submitted false or incomplete campaign finance and financial disclosure reports, according to a 56-page report released on Thursday (16).
The committee unanimously voted to forward its findings to the Department of Justice, stating that Mr. Santos’s conduct “warrants public condemnation, is beneath the dignity of the office, and has brought severe discredit to the House.”
And although the panel did not recommend any punitive measures, there were already indications that the report could be a catalyst for removing Santos from office. Several members of Congress had previously stated they would support his expulsion if the committee found criminal wrongdoing or a serious ethics violation.
“Most of us have never seen anything like this – so extensive, so brazen, and so bold,” said Congressman Glenn F. Ivey, a Democrat from Maryland who is part of the Ethics Committee.
Ivey, a former federal prosecutor, said he believes the panel uncovered additional evidence that could be used in Santos’s federal case.
Santos, 35, a Republican representing parts of Long Island and Queens, is already facing federal indictment with 23 charges, including theft from donors and falsifying campaign finance records.
Santos has resisted calls to leave office and maintains his innocence.
However, shortly after the report was released, Santos announced on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, that he would not seek reelection in 2024.
Even so, he appeared to disagree with the panel’s conclusions, writing: “If there were a minimum of ETHICS in the ‘Ethics Committee,’ they would not have released this biased report.”
After an investigation lasting nearly nine months, the ethics investigators concluded that Santos “sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal financial gain,” according to the report, which states that he sustained his campaign “through a constant series of lies to his voters, donors, and staff about his past and experience.”
The report also detailed how Santos submitted numerous expenses that did not appear to serve any campaign purpose, from trips and hotel stays in Las Vegas that coincided with the time he told staff he was on his honeymoon to thousands of dollars at spas. At least two payments were described as being for Botox.
One of the most interesting parts of the report concerns a company called RedStone Strategies, which Santos used to raise money for the campaign.
Investigators found that Santos transferred at least $200,000 to himself from RedStone through numerous transactions in 2022, some of which were used to pay personal credit cards and make purchases at Hermes, Sephora, and OnlyFans, an adult content site.
The findings appeared to undermine Santos’s criminal defense strategy. The congressman has repeatedly denied involvement in his campaign’s finances, stating that his treasurer “became dishonest.”
But investigators found that Santos was “heavily involved” in financial matters, noting that he received weekly financial reports and invoices and had login credentials for the campaign’s bank accounts.
Santos’s treasurer, Nancy Marks, pleaded guilty in a federal indictment last month, becoming the first person associated with his campaign to do so. The second, a campaign aide named Samuel Miele, pleaded guilty earlier this week.
Congressman Dan Goldman, a Democrat from New York, stated in a release that he will introduce a motion after Thanksgiving to expel Santos from the House.
Source: The New York Times