“Expel Him”: George Santos’s Constituents Protest Outside Capitol to Call for His Removal
The constituents traveled to Washington, D.C., to say Santos should resign, or Republican leadership should kick him out.
Dozens of George Santos’s constituents traveled by bus from Long Island, New York, to the Capitol on Tuesday to call for Republican leadership to expel their not-necessarily duly elected congressman. The protesters, joined by New York Representatives Dan Goldman and Ritchie Torres, hoisted signs that read, “No taxation w/out honest representation!” and “NY-3 says: It’s time to FIRE the LIAR!”
The protestors, alongside advocacy organization Courage for America and local group Concerned Citizens of NY-03, took the approximately five hour journey to the Capitol to directly deliver a petition to Santos’s office that reportedly has over 1,000 signing constituents calling for Santos’s expulsion.”
“You have to be really psychologically impaired to throw that around like it’s nickels,” said Republican constituent Ben Marzouk, in reference to Santos’s lie about his mother dying during 9/11. “It’s not difficult to see and to do what’s right and wrong. [Speaker Kevin] McCarthy, do the right thing. Expel him. Have some respect, have some dignity, and do the right thing.”
Goldman suggested that House leadership has hesitated to push Santos to resign because “they are concerned that George Santos has information that may be damaging to them about their role in the fraud scheme.” Torres added to the idea, saying the only reason for Santos not to resign is “to maintain leverage for a plea bargain in the event of criminal prosecution.”
Goldman and Torres’s suggestions aside, Santos resigning would shrink the GOP’s already slim majority in the House, one that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has worked desperately to obtain control over. So it is perhaps unsurprising that, after suggesting the House Ethics Committee was investigating Santos on Tuesday, McCarthy then assured us that it is not in fact doing so.
Santos’s actions have transcended simply being a buffoonish and pathological liar; already under local, federal, and even international investigations for his financial dealings, potential campaign finance violations, lying about his résumé, his fraudulent use of a checkbook owned by an older man in Brazil, and a scam in which Santos raised money off a homeless veteran’s dying service dog, Santos has now been accused of sexual harassment by a prospective staffer.
So, as McCarthy and the Republicans continue to avoid even subjecting Santos to a proper ethics inquiry, know that this is what they’re supporting.