Republican Rep. George Santos of New York announced on Thursday that he will file a resolution to expel Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York, even as Santos faces the threat of expulsion from the House of Representatives.
Santos, who has been indicted on federal charges regarding alleged campaign finance felonies and faced numerous attempts of expulsion by Democrats and Republicans, is facing expulsion from the chamber following a report by the House Ethics Committee that found “substantial evidence” he committed the crimes alleged against him. On Thursday, Santos told reporters that he would introduce a resolution to expel Bowman, who recently pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for pulling the fire alarm at the Cannon House Office Building on Sept. 30, The Hill reported.
“If the House wants to start [a different] precedent and expel me, that is going to be the undoing of a lot of members of this body because this will haunt them in the future where mere allegations are sufficient to have members removed from office when duly elected by their people in their respective states and districts,” Santos said on Thursday. He indicated that he will introduce his resolution to expel Bowman at noon on Thursday when legislative business begins.
Bowman claimed that he had pulled the fire alarm of the building to open a door marked as an emergency exit, which prompted an evacuation of the facility. Footage from a security camera of Bowman’s actions shows him removing warning signs from the door before pulling the fire alarm, following which he walked away from the door without trying to open it.
Bowman was sentenced to three months of deferred prosecution and required to pay a $1,000 fine as well as write a letter of apology to the United States Capitol Police, which protects the Capitol complex. The sentence prompted a separate effort to expel him and to censure him, both of which were not passed by the House.
Bowman dismissed Santos’ effort in a statement on Thursday. “No one in Congress, or anywhere in America, takes soon-to-be former Congressman George Santos seriously. This is just another meaningless stunt in his long history of cons, antics, and outright fraud,” he wrote, according to The Hill.
Santos first attracted scrutiny following an investigation by The New York Times into claims about his life during the campaign, which found that he had extensively lied about his family history, educational background and personal wealth.
Apart from targeting Bowman, Santos indicated that he would be “filing a slew of complaints in the coming hours of today and tomorrow to make sure that we keep the playing field even,” referring to ethics complaints against fellow members of Congress. Santos has indicated that he will not resign even if it is clear he will be expelled.
House Speaker Mike Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Arjun Singh on November 30, 2023
