As of December 1 house lawmakers have voted (311-114) in favor of expelling Rep. George Santos, the former representative of New York’s 3rd congressional district. Santos has been a controversial figure in the headlines since the 2022 midterm elections for making false statements to congress, fabricating his background, wire fraud, money laundering, and theft of public funds.
“As a candidate, he built his story on lies and exaggerations,” states Mr. Jackson, a Millbrook humanities teacher. Among other falsehoods that later came to light, Santos claimed that he was related to Holocaust survivors, was a graduate from Baruch College and had obtained his master’s degree at New York University (NYU), that he lost his mother because of the 9/11 terrorist attack, and that he’d worked for Citigroup and Goldman Sachs. Immigration papers, however, revealed that his mother wasn’t even in the U.S. for the tragedy of September 11, nor were his grandparents Holocaust survivors. Citigroup and Goldman Sachs have no record of Santos ever working there. Further, there is no record of him graduating from Baruch or NYU; his entire background was “embellished.” Mr. Jackson further commented, “His expulsion will hopefully serve as a deterrent for members of Congress or political candidates who might behave in a similar fashion.”
Additionally, it has been revealed that George Santos has spent roughly $50,000 from his political campaign for his own personal uses. A report by the House Ethics Committee revealed that Santos spent money for “…personal credit card bills and other debt; made a $4,127.80 purchase at Hermes; and for smaller purchases at OnlyFans; Sephora; and for meals and for parking.” Redstone, a falsified committee that Santos claimed to be an aid to his political campaign—but was never registered to the FEC—was declared as “one of many ways he [Santos] sought to exploit his campaign, and the access to wealthy donors it afforded him, for his own personal profit.”
Aether Smith, a Millbrook student with an avid interest in our government’s current trends, believes that “to take that trust is a disservice to the people who put their faith in him and an insult to the institution of democracy.” Smith further elaborates this statement by acknowledging the controversies Santos already faced during his term regarding the LGBTQ+ community, saying: “For him to be a gay man who made his platform off of targeting and inflaming an already ongoing attack on LGBTQ+ people, makes it very clear that to him this was never about serving the public, it was simply a way for him to profit.”
George Santos’s expulsion is something that’s been a long time coming. Before the voting occurred, Santos gave a final comment and declared that he would wear this expulsion “as a badge of honor.”
