Embattled Republican Rep. George Santos of New York survived a vote to expel him from his post on Capitol Hill Wednesday.
The House voted 213-179 against a resolution to expel Santos from Congress.
The resolution, filed last week by fellow New York Rep. Anthony D'Esposito and co-sponsored by Reps. Nick Lalota, Marc Molinaro and Brandon Williams, required a two-thirds vote in the House to pass.
"While George Santos is entitled to his day in court to plead his innocence, the people of New York's 3rd Congressional District deserve a representative who is solely focused on serving the public and not spending the majority of their time combating 23 federal charges such as wire fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds," D'Esposito saidin a statement. "We must remove this conman from Congress."
What we know about George Santos' fraudulent claims
George Santos burst onto the national scene soon after being elected to Congress last year, but that's when parts of his history became murky.
Santos was indicted on various federal offenses in May for fabricating his life story, lying to Congress about being a millionaire, and misleading voters, all while cheating to collect unemployment benefits. He also faces additional new charges that accuse him of conspiring to defraud donors by using their credit cards to rack up tens of thousands of dollars in unauthorized purchases.
If convicted, Santos faces a lengthy prison sentence, but he has repeatedly rejected widespread calls to resign and said he intends to run for reelection next year.
Meanwhile, the House Ethics Committee said Tuesday it will announce its "next course of action" regarding Santos by Nov. 17. Chairman Michael Guest of Mississippi said the committee has already contacted roughly 40 witnesses and reviewed more than 170,000 documents related to its investigation.
