New York’s first-term GOP reps will move to expel Santos after new charges

New York House Republicans will introduce a measure to expel Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) from the legislative body, Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-N.Y.) announced Wednesday. 

“Today, I’ll be introducing an expulsion resolution to rid the People’s House of fraudster, George Santos,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

D’Esposito said the resolution will be co-sponsored by fellow first-term GOP Reps. Nick LaLota, Mike Lawler, Marc Molinaro, Nick Langworthy and Brandon Williams, all from New York.

The announcement comes one day after prosecutors in New York filed a superseding indictment against Santos, charging him with 10 new criminal charges. He now faces 23 charges in total.

The new indictment accuses Santos of stealing campaign contributors’ identities and financial information and of charging their credit cards numerous times without their authorization. The indictment also alleges Santos falsely reported to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that his family made significant campaign contributions they did not make. 

The announcement marks a shift in position for the six New York first-term lawmakers, who in May voted with the rest of the GOP conference to refer the matter to the House Ethics Committee, rather than vote for Santos’s expulsion.

That vote made them a target for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), which in September released a video attacking five of the six members for that vote against Santos’s expulsion.

“Nick LaLota, Anthony D’Esposito, Mike Lawler, Marc Molinaro, and Brandon Williams turned their backs on New Yorkers by voting to protect an admitted criminal — making it crystal clear they stand with MAGA extremists over New York voters,” DCCC spokesperson Ellie Dougherty said at the time in a statement attached to a press release on the video.

On Wednesday, Santos remained defiant in the face of the superseding indictment. He denied wrongdoing on all charges and recommitted himself to running for reelection. He also said he would not accept a plea deal — claiming he’s “just gonna let it play out.”

Asked about his colleagues’ effort to expel him, Santos said, “If they want to silence 700,000 people, that’s on them. They want to be Judge Jury and arbitrator of the whole goddamn thing? Let them do it.”

He added, “If we start a precedent of every time somebody doesn’t like somebody in this body and they gang up and expel them, we set terrible precedent. Then we’re canceling the voice of the American people.”