House Ethics Committee Investigating George Santos for … Just About Everything
The House Ethics Committee has voted to investigate Republican Rep. George Santos regarding the avalanche of lies and potential illegal activity by the freshman congressman.
The committee said Thursday that members voted to establish an investigative subcommittee tasked with determining “whether Representative George Santos may have: engaged in unlawful activity with respect to his 2022 congressional campaign; failed to properly disclose required information on statements filed with the House; violated federal conflict of interest laws in connection with his role in a firm providing fiduciary services; and/or engaged in sexual misconduct towards an individual seeking employment in his congressional office.”
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New: The House Ethics Committee has established an "Investigative Subcommittee" to look into Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.). The announcement comes days after the committee officially organized. pic.twitter.com/ZCfsBjpvmf
— Mychael Schnell (@mychaelschnell) March 2, 2023
The amount of dishonesty revealed in Santos’ first months in office rivals that of some of D.C.’s most seasoned political operatives. In December, The New York Times exposed a series of misrepresentations Santos made regarding his backstory. The congressman had fudged his enrollment at prestigious universities and lied about having worked for major financial institutions. A separate report by Forward found that Santos had claimed to be a “proud American Jew” in campaign documents, and falsely claimed to be the descendant of Holocaust survivors, despite ancestral records indicating that Santos had no Jewish ancestry. The list of ethical disasters not only goes on, it seems to grow by the week.
Santos is also facing multiple federal investigations, including a probe into whether or not he stole thousands of dollars raised for the care of a disabled veterans service dog.
As politicians on both sides have called for Santos’ resignation, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy still granted Santos committee assignments. Santos recused himself from his positions on the Small Business Committee and the Science, Space and Technology Committee, however, calling his presence a “distraction.”
Despite the Ethics Committee’s decision to move forward with an investigation, the body itself is currently struggling with its own questions of legitimacy. Following the GOP’s takeover of the House in the 2022 midterms, Republicans proposed a series of rules reforms to the House ethics process that would severely undercut the bipartisan, independent nature of the committee, stacking it with election deniers. Santos indicated on Twitter that he is “fully cooperating” with the committee, and that he will be making no further statements at this time.
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