On Friday morning local time, the U.S. House of Representatives held a vote that will go down in history on the expulsion of New York State Representative George Santos. According to the final results before publication,A total of 311 members of the House of Representatives voted in favor, reaching the two-thirds threshold required to expel members. Another 114 people opposed and 2 people voted "neutral". A total of 8 members of the two parties did not vote.


Absurd things that go down in history

Regarding Santos, the Financial Associated Press has published a previous article (Witness history +1? This was explained in detail when the Ethics Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives proposed a resolution to “expel problematic members.”

To put it simply, Santos, who is only 35 years old this year, won the 2022 midterm elections, and then his problems were exposed one after another. According to a House Ethics Committee investigative report, his claimsAcademic qualifications are fake, so-called"Getting on Wall Street and prospering" is also false, and there are alsoFraudulently claiming COVID-19 unemployment benefits,Issues such as misappropriation of campaign funds for personal enjoyment.

The House of Representatives has been arguing for a year over whether Santos should be expelled, but with the release of the investigative report last month, forces began to shift in favor of expulsion.

It is worth mentioning that in order to expel Santos, the US Congress also created a new history:Not only was he the sixth member of the House of Representatives to be voted out of office in U.S. history, but he was also the first member of the House of Representatives to be expelled without being convicted by a court since the Civil War.


According to U.S. history, the first three House members were expelled for fighting for the Confederate States of America in the Civil War, and the next two were expelled after being convicted by courts.

As the voting ended, Santos walked out of Congress and faced layers of media surrounding him. He also made a profound response: "The House has spoken and this is their vote. They have just set a new and dangerous precedent for themselves."


Although Santos was called a "joke, a disgrace and a serial fraudster" by House Minority Leader Jeffries, the words he left before leaving were not wrong: At a time when American politics is becoming more and more extreme, Congress is eager to expel members who have not yet been convicted. Is there no need for the so-called "presumption of innocence" principle? After setting this precedent, whose turn will it be next time?

what happens next

Although such things are uncommon, there are corresponding ways to deal with them in Congressional rules. It is reported that,The expulsion of a member of the House of Representatives is equivalent to the death or resignation of a member of the House of Representatives in office, and his seat will become vacant. His congressional office will be taken over, and congressional staff will notify New York Governor Hochul that there is a vacant House seat in her territory. As for when to hold by-elections, it is up to the state of New York to decide.

Given that Hochul has publicly posted that he will take on the responsibility of organizing by-elections, this process is probably complete.


Since Santos was not convicted of a crime when he was expelled, he could theoretically continue to enter the House of Representatives as a "former member of Congress" and use facilities such as gyms and restaurants. However, given that Santos made it clear on Friday that "who would want to come to this damn place," the House of Representatives should not need to think of ways to amend the rules in this regard.

Don’t forget, Santos is still facing23 federal charges involving wire fraud, misuse of campaign funds, and falsification of congressional letters.

And his troubles seem to not stop there. After the vote on Friday, Ohio Republican Rep. Max Miller also came forward and accused Santos of "stealing money" from him and his mother.

Miller revealed that Santos not only personally took his credit card, but also his mother's credit card, charging an additional $5,000 each and marking it as an "excess donation." Miller said,The documents in his possession showed that Santos defrauded more than 350 people. Miller also blasted House Republican leadership, including Speaker Johnson, who voted against it today.