Since the day he set foot in Washington, Representative George Santos of New York has been shunned by a few of his fellow Republicans and guarded by Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who has persistently defended his proper to serve in Congress regardless of the fictional persona he created and the geyser of falsehoods he instructed to win election.
His wide-ranging indictment on Wednesday, through which Mr. Santos was charged with wire fraud, cash laundering, stealing public funds and mendacity to Congress in federal disclosure kinds, did nothing to vary that dynamic. Some rank-and-file Republican lawmakers intensified their requires his resignation, however Mr. McCarthy and different House G.O.P. leaders, working with a slim and fractious majority, stated Mr. Santos must be allowed to proceed to serve in Congress.
“If a person is indicted, they’re not on committees,” Mr. McCarthy instructed reporters on Tuesday earlier than the fees had been unsealed. “They have a right to vote, but they have to go to trial.” It was consistent with the place Mr. McCarthy has taken since January, when the speaker made no transfer to penalize or marginalize Mr. Santos, even within the face of mounting allegations of misconduct and lies by him.
Mr. McCarthy allowed Mr. Santos, who’s in his first time period, to be positioned on two congressional committees. When he quickly stepped except for them weeks after his appointments, Mr. McCarthy stated it had been Mr. Santos’s selection — although the speaker referred to as it the “appropriate decision” for now, “until he could clear everything up.”
Mr. McCarthy stated his calculation about Mr. Santos’s future in Congress might change if he had been discovered responsible.
“He was already removed from all his committees,” Representative Steve Scalise, Republican of Louisiana and the bulk chief, stated throughout a news convention. “In America, there is a presumption of innocence, but they’re serious charges. He’s going to have to go through the legal process.”
Representative Elise Stefanik of New York, the No. 4 Republican, stated the authorized course of would “play itself out.”
“Unfortunately, this is not the first time a member of Congress from either party has been indicted,” Ms. Stefanik stated. She stated Republicans had been extra involved with rooting out “any fraud when it comes to unemployment pandemic assistance.”
Other Republicans had been much less merciful, significantly Mr. Santos’s fellow New Yorkers. Representative Anthony D’Esposito, who represents components of Nassau County, referred to as Mr. Santos a “serial fraudster” who ought to “resign from office.” Representative Mike Lawler of the Hudson Valley stated Mr. Santos’s conduct had been “embarrassing and disgraceful, and he should resign.”
And Representative Steve Womack of Arkansas stated Mr. Santos was a “punchline for a lot of commentary regarding the Republican Party that we don’t need.”
One Republican from upstate New York, Representative Claudia Tenney, stated that whereas she was “horrified by his behavior,” she believed in due course of, though she didn’t count on Mr. Santos to complete out his time period. Ms. Tenney stated her colleagues in districts nearer to Mr. Santos’s felt extra political stress to name for his instant resignation.
“They feel like it’s impacting them more directly downstate,” she stated.
For months, Mr. Santos has tried to defiantly keep it up, even asserting plans to run for re-election in 2024 and attempting to pivot ideologically within the hopes of gaining a extra forgiving viewers with the occasion’s onerous proper. But he has had hassle discovering any allies to again him. A request to make his re-election announcement on “War Room,” an influential podcast on the proper hosted by the previous Trump adviser Stephen Okay. Bannon, was rejected, in response to a supply with information of the matter.
While an affiliation with Mr. Santos could also be a political drag on Republicans, the influence of his resignation would pose a problem for management. With a slim majority within the House and a struggle over the debt ceiling looming, Mr. McCarthy can’t afford to lose Mr. Santos’s vote. The speaker solely narrowly handed a invoice final month to lift the debt ceiling in alternate for spending cuts, with no Republican votes to spare and Mr. Santos within the “yes” column.
As negotiations with the White House proceed, Mr. McCarthy could have extra hassle protecting the help of Republicans on the proper flank of his occasion, making Mr. Santos’s vote all of the extra essential.
The speaker has much more instant legislative considerations. On Wednesday, he was struggling to quell opposition to a border safety invoice, delaying a deliberate vote on a rule that might arrange a flooring vote on the laws on Thursday. Mr. Santos stated that he deliberate to journey to Washington to vote on the measure.
Mr. Santos’s indictment, nonetheless, signifies that Mr. McCarthy could should plan his legislative schedule round Mr. Santos’s courtroom appearances and trial, making his already tenuous maintain on the bulk even much less safe.
There isn’t any legislation or precedent that claims a member of Congress can’t proceed to serve whereas indicted, and there are a number of examples of lawmakers who stayed in workplace earlier than pleading responsible and resigning — or survived and carried on.
Senator Bob Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, was indicted on bribery costs in 2015. A federal jury was unable to achieve a verdict and the choose declared a mistrial, and at the moment Mr. Menendez serves because the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.
Representative Duncan Hunter, Republican of California, was indicted in 2018 for stealing tons of of 1000’s of {dollars} in marketing campaign funds. He didn’t resign till 2020, after pleading responsible.
Representative Chris Collins, Republican of New York, who was indicted in 2018, resigned earlier than pleading responsible to committing insider buying and selling after which mendacity to the F.B.I. in an try and cowl it up.
And Representative Jeff Fortenberry, Republican of Nebraska, was indicted in 2021 on felony costs associated to mendacity to federal authorities who had been investigating unlawful marketing campaign contributions. He continued to serve till the subsequent yr, when he was convicted, at which level he resigned.
Mr. McCarthy, who was the minority chief on the time, famous on Tuesday that the conviction was what had prompted him to inform Mr. Fortenberry that he wanted to resign.
Catie Edmondson contributed reporting.
Source: www.nytimes.com