Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said he talked with New York Rep. George Santos "at some length" about his options amid his potential expulsion from Congress.
While meeting with reporters in Sarasota, Florida, Johnson said he spoke with Santos over Thanksgiving weekend and discussed the New York representative's options after a House Ethics Committee report found Santos filed false or incomplete election reports with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and had used campaign funds for personal purposes.
According to the report, Santos also "engaged in fraudulent conduct in connection with RedStone Strategies LLC," and "engaged in knowing and willful violations of the Ethics in Government Act as it relates to his Financial Disclosure (FD) Statements filed with the House."
"Representative Santos sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal financial profit," reads the House Ethics Committee's report on Santos. "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."
The report continued: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. He used his connections to high value donors and other political campaigns to obtain additional funds for himself through fraudulent or otherwise questionable business dealings. And he sustained all of this through a constant series of lies to his constituents, donors, and staff about his background and experience.
Amid Santos' potential expulsion from Congress, Johnson told reporters, "We'll have to see."
"It's not yet determined, but we'll be talking about that when we get back," Johnson said.
Santos' integrity was called into question during and after the 2022 midterm election, in which the New York representative won his election and assisted House Republicans in securing a narrow majority over House Democrats.
The New York representative has received 23 federal charges, including aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, and conspiracy, against which Santos has maintained his innocence.
Following the release of the House Ethics Committee's report, Santos announced he would not seek re-election in 2024.
“I will continue on my mission to serve my constituents up until I am allowed," Santos said at the time.
Last week, Santos insisted he would not resign, though appeared to acknowledge the report's findings were true.
“I’ve done the math over and over, and it doesn’t look really good,” Santos said of his potential expulsion from Congress.
Santos may become the sixth House member to be expelled from Congress in United States history.
