House Republican leaders, citing a need for the legal process to play out, have not called on Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) to resign following Santos’ arrest on May 10 on federal charges of wire fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds, and making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.
Santos surrendered to authorities on the same day the 13-count indictment against him was revealed in the U.S. Eastern District Court in New York. At his court appearance, he pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Santos, 34, the newly elected congressman who represents New York’s 3rd Congressional District, which is made up of parts of Long Island and the New York borough of Queens, has contended with revelations of a long list of lies, distortions, and fabrications on his resume, and the narrative of his life he shared with the voters of his district and the broader public.
Nine GOP rank-and-file members of the House, including six from New York, called on Santos to step down. But for now, GOP House leadership is not joining in.
At issue for the GOP is the thin majority, 222-213, it holds in the House, making every vote critical.
Following the Legal Process
At a media appearance after the indictment, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) was asked if he would continue to support Santos.
McCarthy referred to recent history involving two members of Congress, Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.), who were both indicted. Juries dropped charges against Menendez and issued a guilty verdict in the Fortenberry case.
“I haven’t seen the indictment, but as you know, with George Santos, I did not put him on any committees,” said McCarthy. “For those, like Sen. Menendez, who was indicted, and who went to trial, he was still able to vote ... he’s chairman of the [Senate Foreign Relations] committee today.
“In America, we’ll just follow the same pattern we’ve always had, right? If a person is indicted, they’re not on committees, they have the right to vote, but they have to go to trial. Just like, we had a member, Fortenberry. He had the same ability. I removed him from committees. But he was found guilty, and then I told him he needed to resign.”
During a May 10 news conference, House leadership members had been scheduled to discuss the immigration crisis along the nation’s southern border. But Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) was asked if the efforts of House Republicans to pass a bill intended to help the government recover pandemic unemployment benefits that were received fraudulently would be weakened with the Santos charges, which include unemployment fraud.
“He [Santos] was already removed from all of his committees,” said Scalise. “There is a legal process. The charges just came out. We just saw some of them this morning. And so, in America, there’s a presumption of innocence. But they’re serious charges. He’s going to have to go through the legal process.”
Scalise then changed direction, saying, “But we’re going to continue to work to root out fraud, and there’s lots of it. And we’re talking about tens, if not hundreds, of billions of dollars. And fraud in many federal programs. We’ve pointed this out.”
Rep. Elise Stefanik, House Republican Conference chair, whose district covers parts of upstate New York, said she has been consistent “from the very beginning on questions on this subject. This legal process is going to play itself out. Unfortunately, this is not the first time a member of Congress from either party has been indicted. There are a set of rules, and as the Majority Leader stated, he [Santos] voluntarily had stepped down from his committees.”
Stefanik then steered the conversation elsewhere.
“We are committed to making sure that we root out any fraud when it comes to unemployment pandemic assistance and we’re working to have support from our conference, and it’s good policy, and we urge the Democrats to vote in support of it,” she said.
