Molinaro rips Santos: He ‘manufactured his entire life to defraud voters’

Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-N.Y.) dug into Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) on Thursday, arguing the embattled lawmaker “manufactured his entire life to defraud voters.”

“My future former colleague is divorced from reality,” Molinaro said during a fiery floor debate. “He has manufactured his entire life to defraud the voters of his district and on his choice, for a member of Congress.”

Molinaro is among a group of New York lawmakers pushing for the expulsion of Santos, who has been embroiled in a string of controversies over the past year. Efforts to expel Santos began last spring after charges surfaced against him over allegations of money laundering, inflated campaign reports and the use of campaign funds for personal purchases.

Molinaro said he does not want to be compared to Santos and that New York voters expect “an independent voice” in the House and expect him to “use the rules of the House … and to stand up for the very decency and laws of this country in protecting the Constitution.”

Coupled with a new set of charges in October, Santos faces a total of 23 federal charges and has largely denied the charges’ claims.

He survived two expulsion attempts that occurred prior to the release of a scathing report from the House Ethics Committee describing “substantial evidence” that Santos committed serious federal crimes.

Since the release of that report, several lawmakers who previously supported Santos have indicated they will now vote to expel the New York lawmaker in the third vote, slated to take place Friday. Santos himself said he recognizes he may be expelled, while rejecting calls to resign before the vote.

Santos has repeatedly criticized the report, claiming the Ethics Committee rushed the investigative process in an effort to push him out of the lower chamber. Earlier on Thursday, Santos called the final report “slanderous” and “unprecedented.”

Following the report of the release, Santos repeatedly claimed he was not afforded due process during the committee’s investigative process and that the push to expel him would set an unfavorable precedent.

Molinaro pushed back on this argument, saying, “I was not elected, nor any of us, to defend precedent. I was elected to defend the United States Constitution.”