When House members voted earlier this month on whether Republican Representative George Santos should remain in office, Charlotte Democrat Representative Jeff Jackson was among those who voted to retain him.
But on Thursday, Jackson and his colleagues received an ethics report on Santos.
“Representative. Santos got his due process,” Jackson said in a written statement. “This report is completely damning. I will vote to expel him.
Then-North Carolina Senator Jeff Jackson addresses media and others at the March for Our Lives in Charlotte on June 12, 2021.
After the first vote, Jackson wrote in a campaign email that Santos had not been convicted of any crime, and a formal ethics report had not been issued against the New York Republican. Jackson said that ousting Santos would set a precedent of allowing members to be expelled before due process is completed.
Jackson’s promise to vote to expel Santos comes after a House Ethics Committee report accused Santos of filing false or incomplete campaign finance reports, using campaign funds for personal use, engaging in fraudulent conduct and The government act has been accused of violating ethics. Representative Deborah Ross, Democrat of Wake County, is part of that committee.
“The report released today by the House Ethics Committee is the result of a careful, thorough, bipartisan investigation,” Ross said in a written statement, “Without a doubt, this shows conclusively that Representative George Santos is unfit to serve in this body. When the resolution comes to the House for a vote, I will vote to expel him from the US House of Representatives.”
Santos House Ethics Committee report
The House committee launched an investigation into four specifics regarding Santos:
whether he has committed criminal acts in connection with his 2022 congressional campaign;
whether he failed to properly disclose required information in statements to the House;
whether he or she has violated federal conflict of interest laws;
Whether he engaged in sexual misconduct with a potential employee.
Santos, who is serving his first term, began his congressional tenure amid scandals. Reports emerged that he fabricated much of the biography which led to the success of his campaign.
The addendum to the ethics report includes details of how Santos allegedly “lied about his degree, his religion, his work experience, his family.”
Reports indicate that Santos’ campaign staff became so concerned with how many times he lied that they asked him to seek help. It also addresses staff concerns about how campaign funds are being used and reported.
The Ethics Committee report accused Santos of sending money from his campaign to a company he owned and then to his personal bank account. From there he used the money to pay off credit cards, get Botox, and buy items from Hermes, OnlyFans, and Sephora, among many other things. He is also accused of using his campaign funds to pay for personal vacations, the report alleges.
The report accuses Santos of misreporting or failing to properly disclose nearly $800,000 over the course of two campaigns. It also accuses Santos of reimbursing fraudulent loans through campaign donations.
“They reported fraudulent loans to their political committees in order to induce donors and party committees to contribute more to their campaigns – and then to more campaigns as purported ‘payment’ for those fraudulent loans,” the report said. Sent the money to myself.”
Santos has been charged with 23 felonies in New York, including wire fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft, involving his campaign money.
“Representative Santos’ conduct deserves public condemnation, is beneath the dignity of office and has seriously brought the House into disrepute,” the Ethics Committee said in a news release.
Santos defended himself on Thursday The report is being called “biased”.
“This is a disgusting political stain that shows how low our federal government has fallen,” Santos wrote on social media. “Everyone who participated in this grave miscarriage of justice should be ashamed of themselves.”
Santos also announced that he would not seek re-election.
North Carolina response
On November 1, the House voted for the first time on whether to expel Santos.
At the time, Ross and Representative Don Davis, a Democrat from Snow Hill, voted present, meaning they were in the voting but did not take a position. Seventeen others took the same vote.
And 22 delegates, including Republican Greg Murphy of Greenville, did not vote at all.
Otherwise, North Carolina’s Republicans voted in favor of retaining Santos. Except for Jackson, NC’s Democratic members voted to expel him.
The vote failed 179–213. But it was always understood that voting would take place again after the ethics committee issued its findings.
Shortly after the report was released, Ethics Chairman Michael Guest, a Republican from Mississippi, said he planned to file a new motion for expulsion on Friday, as did two Democrats.
Murphy told Politico’s Olivia Beavers. He will vote to oust Santos.
“Given his findings on the facts of this case, I find his behavior reprehensible, and unbecoming of a member of Congress,” Murphy told Beavers.
The Ethics Committee also announced that it had turned the investigation over to the Justice Department and said they had found “substantial evidence” of possible violations of federal criminal law.
Source: www.bing.com
