George Santos Says He Won't Seek Reelection After House Panel Calls For His Expulsion

Embattled New York congressman George Santos announced on Thursday he won't be seeking reelection to his seat in the House of Representatives.

The statements came minutes after the Republican chairman of the House's ethics panel called for Santos' expulsion of the chamber after an investigation found "substantial evidence" showing he had violated federal criminal laws.

Concretely, the bipartisan panel concluded that Santos "blatantly stole" from his campaign and sought to "fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy" for personal financial gain.

The document also said that the Republican "cannot be trusted," as he knowingly led his campaign committee to file false or incomplete reports with the Federal Elections Commission; used campaign funds for personal purposes and violated the Ethics in Government Act.

Despite his announcement about not seeking reelection, Santos has maintained his innocence and said he will not resign, even after many colleagues urged him to. Two of his campaign aides have pleaded guilty for their roles in the scheme.

Following the publication of the report, he posted a lengthy publication on X, formerly known as Twitter: "If there was a single ounce of ETHICS in the "Ethics committee", they would have not released this biased report. The Committee went to extraordinary lengths to smear myself and my legal team about me not being forthcoming (My legal bills suggest otherwise)," began the message.

"I will not stand by as I am stoned by those who have flaws themselves. "I will continue on my mission to serve my constituents up until I am allowed. I will however NOT be seeking re-election for a second term in 2024 as my family deserves better than to be under the gun from the press all the time," he added.

Asides from the House report, Santos faces a 23-count federal indictment, which alleges he stole the identities of campaign donors and used their credit cards to make purchases for tens of thousands of dollars.

According to the Department Of Justice, these charges arose from alleged illegal monetary thefts and fraud done by Santos and his treasurer for his principal congressional campaign committee, Nancy Marks. It occurred during the 2022 election cycle when Santos, a U.S. House of Representatives candidate in New York's Third Congressional District, fraudulently obtained money for his campaign, according to the press release.

The purpose of these fraudulent funds was to mislead the Federal Election Commission, the national Republican Party committee and the public.

Santos needed to demonstrate that his congressional campaign had raised at least $250,000 from third-party contributors in a single quarter to qualify for a program from the party committee, which would provide financial and logistical support to Santos and his campaign.

If convicted, Santos faces a mandatory minimum penalty of two years in prison for the aggravated identity theft counts and a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for the other counts.