Embattled congressman's expulsion leaves Republicans vulnerable

By Anthony ZurcherNorth America correspondent

On the third strike, George Santos was out. In the end, it wasn't even close.

By a 311-114 vote, the House of Representatives ousted the New York congressman, well over the two-thirds mark such a move requires.

The difference between the first two unsuccessful expulsion attempts and this one was the release of a damning ethics committee report that provided extensive details of alleged misconduct by Mr Santos.

"Damning" may be an understatement, in fact. The 56-page report detailed "substantial evidence" of corruption, fraud and misuse of campaign funds that included personal expenditures on clothing, Botox treatments and OnlyFans, a platform where users pay for content, including pornography.

When combined with Mr Santos's well-established lying about his personal history during his 2022 congressional campaign and his multi-count federal indictment for money laundering, fraud, identity theft and falsifying documents, a near majority of House Republicans had more than enough cover to finally abandon their colleague.

They did so despite the chamber's top Republicans voting to save him. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and his colleagues said they were concerned about the precedent being set by removing a congressman prior to a criminal conviction for the first time in modern US history.

"Who's next?" House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan told the BBC. "The people voted for him, and now we're saying to them, sorry, because he's under investigation, and without going to court, without trial, not having been found guilty, you're thrown out by Congress."

Republicans leaders may also have been eying a dwindling House majority as they decided how to vote.

With Mr Santos out, there are now 221 Republicans and 213 Democrats in the chamber. On any party-line vote, Republicans can only afford to lose three on their own side.

And that, of course, is assuming full attendance - which is not always easy to guarantee in a 435-member chamber. Legislators get sick. They have family obligations. They take trips back home and abroad.

The narrower the margins between Republicans and Democrats in the chamber, the harder it will be for Speaker Johnson and his team to have a workable majority that can pass new laws - including legislation funding the US government and providing military aid to Ukraine and Israel.

Despite this reality, New York Republicans were elated. They had been pressing for his removal for months, concerned that the scandal-ridden legislator was damaging their own chances of winning elections in the state next year.

But before next November's general election rolls around, New York is now going to hold a special election for the Santos seat - in what could be an expensive, combustive preview of the autumn battle for control of Congress and the White House.

The Democrats who had already been lining up to run for the seat will have to decide if they want to throw their hat into the ring for the earlier contest. Republicans, meanwhile, are left scrambling. While the writing has been on the wall for some time, Santos only recently announced he would not run for re-election - and there is no clear frontrunner for the party's nomination.

For both the Republicans and the Democrats, party elders - not New York voters - will decide who the nominees will be. Welcome to Long Island politics.

New York state law requires the election to be held sometime in the next three months. In the meantime, Mr Santos's name will be removed from his congressional office on Capitol Hill but his legislative staff - both in Washington and New York - will operate without him, reporting to the administrative office of the Capitol.

As for Mr Santos himself, he and his lawyers will continue to prepare for his upcoming federal trial. He won't exactly become just another ordinary citizen, however.

He can still enjoy the privileges afforded former members of Congress who leave under less controversial circumstances. As long as he isn't criminally convicted, and doesn't work as a foreign lobbyist or advocate for a specific piece of legislation, he will be able to stroll the halls of the Congress and access the floor of the House of Representatives. He can dine in the exclusive House restaurant, exercise in the Capitol gym and borrow books from the Library of Congress.

He is not eligible for the cushy congressional legislative pension, however. He would have to win two more House elections to qualify.

There's nothing stopping Mr Santos from running for Congress again, if he so decides. Expelled members - or even convicted ones - are not prohibited from re-joining the chamber if they he can convince voters to send them back.

That may not be likely, however. As Mr Santos left the Capitol after his expulsion, he reportedly told the gathered reporters: "To hell with this place."

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