The findings from George Santos’ ethics investigation, launched by the House Ethics Committee back in March, stunned CNN’s Dana Bash as she laid out the details of the probe.
“I mean, I have never read anything like this. It’s pretty remarkable,” Bash said regarding the Santos report — he serves as the U.S. House representative for New York’s 3rd congressional district. “This is it. It’s not that long. I mean, but it is so sharp, so blunt. There is absolutely no room for any gray area at all. Absolutely unanimous about everything that he did.”
Bash was joined by journalist Manu Raju who was reporting live from Capitol Hill.
“In addition to that, it says in the report, he sustained all of that through a, quote, ‘constant series of lies to his constituents, donors and staff about his background and his experience,’” Raju said. “Now the question for George Santos is how long he can remain in his seat. He just announced moments ago that he would not run for reelection despite him telling me just a couple weeks ago that he absolutely would run if he were expelled.”
Some of the key findings of the investigation were that Santos tried to “fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal financial profit,” he “deceived donors into providing what they thought were contributions to his campaign but were in fact payments for his personal benefit” and that he “blatantly stole from his campaign.”
In March, the bipartisan House committee launched an investigation into the politician in order to see if Santos was engaging in “unlawful activity” during his 2022 campaign, including violating federal conflict of interest laws, as well as failing to properly fill out his House financial disclosure forms, according to reports.
“We do expect the chairman of this committee, the Republican chairman Michael Guest, tomorrow, to file a resolution to kick him out of the House, which will need a two-thirds majority to succeed,” Raju said. “The question is: can he get there?”
On Thursday, Santos announced his decision not to run for reelection in 2024.
Rep George Santos says he will not seek reelection after the House Ethics Committee finds he "sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal financial profit." @mkraju @jeffzeleny @alaynatreene @lbarronlopez join @InsidePolitics to discuss pic.twitter.com/ZxAp0NFjwh
— Dana Bash (@DanaBashCNN) November 16, 2023
