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☆ George Santos Says He Is Done With the G.O.P. (The Feeling Is Mutual.)
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-22 | by ( Grace Ashford | More About Grace Ashford | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

There has been little evidence that Mr. Santos had done much campaign work or fund-raising for the contest. Nevertheless, he said he would stay in the race and take his “Ultra MAGA/Trump supporting values to the ballot in November as an independent.”If he does so, he could potentially draw some votes away from Mr. LaLota, which would benefit the undetermined Democratic candidate in a district that Donald J. Trump won by just under 2 points in 2020. Even so, neither Mr. LaLota nor Jesse Garcia, the Suffolk County Republican Party chairman, seemed particularly concerned by Mr. Santos’s threat. “George Santos is irrelevant to the electoral process,” Mr. Garcia said upon hearing the news, adding that the announcement was nothing more than a ploy for attention. Mr. LaLota said in a statement that just as Mr. Santos’s expulsion had been good for the nation, his resignation from the Republican Party was good for “common-sense conservatives.”

Persons: Santos, Ultra MAGA, Donald J, Trump, LaLota, Jesse Garcia, “ George Santos, Mr, Garcia, Santos’s, ” Organizations: Trump, Democratic, Suffolk County Republican Party, Republican Party Locations: Suffolk

The expulsion of George Santos from the House on Friday, after a year shaped by audacious lies and outright frauds, ended his 11-month congressional tenure. But as he stormed off Capitol Hill, Mr. Santos made abundantly clear that he had no intention of returning to obscurity. Mr. Santos, a New York Republican, is scheduled to stand trial next year on a lengthy rap sheet that includes charges he defrauded donors, lied to election officials and stole unemployment benefits. But in American politics, even convicted criminals are often given second acts — if not in elected office, then on reality TV or the big screen. Here’s what might be next — and what will not be — for the disgraced and recently deposed former congressman.

Persons: George Santos, Santos Organizations: Capitol, New, New York Republican Locations: New York

George Santos, the New York Republican congressman whose tapestry of lies and schemes made him a figure of national ridicule and the subject of a 23-count federal indictment, was expelled from the House on Friday after a decisive bipartisan vote by his peers. The move consigned Mr. Santos, who over the course of his short political career invented ties to the Holocaust, Sept. 11 and the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, to a genuine place in history: He is the first person to be expelled from the House without first being convicted of a federal crime or supporting the Confederacy. Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana announced the tally to a hushed House chamber: The measure, which required a two-thirds majority, passed with 311 lawmakers in favor of expulsion, including 105 Republicans, and 114 against. Two members voted present. “The new whole number of the House is 434,” a downcast Mr. Johnson announced, confirming that with Mr. Santos’s ouster, the already paper-thin margin of Republican control had shrunk to three votes.

Persons: George Santos, Santos, Mike Johnson, Johnson, Santos’s Organizations: New York Republican Locations: Orlando, Louisiana

As the House of Representatives opened the floor on Thursday to debate the fate of George Santos, Republican of New York, the arguments over whether to expel him took an immediate and indecorous turn. Mr. Santos’s use of Botox was invoked several times, even by those defending him. His detractors pointed to falsified ties to the Holocaust and to his claims, contradicted by paperwork, that his mother was at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11. The final speaker calling to expel Mr. Santos concluded with the briefest of remarks: “You, sir, are a crook.”The dramatic floor debate was, perhaps, a fitting culmination to a political career that has been defined by spectacle, scandal and lies. All that could come to an end on Friday, when the House is scheduled to vote on a resolution to expel Mr. Santos, 35, following the release of a damning and detailed report from the House Ethics Committee that found “substantial evidence” that he had violated federal law.

Persons: George Santos, Botox, Mr, Santos, “ Organizations: Republican, World Trade Locations: New York

House Democrats on Tuesday moved to force a vote this week on whether to expel Representative George Santos of New York from office, a strategic effort to prevent Republican leadership from slow-rolling any bid to push one of their own out of office. Since then, Republicans have debated whether to shield or expel Mr. Santos, aware that either path could come with grave costs. But the resolution from Democrats is privileged, meaning that Speaker Mike Johnson must address it within two days. Republicans could still move to table or postpone the vote, moves that would each require the support of a majority of the House. Those maneuvers would not rule out a vote on Mr. Guest’s resolution, however, if Republican leadership chooses to act on its own party’s motion to lessen the appearance of Democrats forcing the Republicans’ hand.

Persons: George Santos, Robert Garcia of, Dan Goldman, Santos, Michael Guest of, Mr, Mike Johnson Organizations: Democratic, Republican, Republicans Locations: George Santos of New York, Robert Garcia of California, New York, Michael Guest of Mississippi

The Republican chairman of the bipartisan House Ethics Committee introduced a resolution on Friday to expel Representative George Santos of New York from Congress, citing the committee’s damning new report documenting pervasive campaign fraud and violations of House rules. The move by Representative Michael Guest of Mississippi, the committee’s chairman, laid the groundwork for a pivotal vote after Thanksgiving that could make Mr. Santos the sixth representative to be ejected in the chamber’s history. “The evidence uncovered in the Ethics Committee’s investigative subcommittee investigation is more than sufficient to warrant punishment,” Mr. Guest said in a statement accompanying his five-page resolution. “And the most appropriate punishment is expulsion.”Mr. Santos, a Republican, has survived two expulsion efforts after a crush of reports in The New York Times and other publications exposed his fabricated life story and federal prosecutors charged him with 23 felonies.

Persons: George Santos, Michael Guest of, Santos, Mr, Guest, ” Mr Organizations: Republican, The New York Times Locations: George Santos of New York, Michael Guest of Mississippi

☆ New York Will Give a ‘Clean Slate’ to Formerly Incarcerated People
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Grace Ashford | More About Grace Ashford | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Roughly two million people convicted of crimes in New York may be eligible to have their records sealed as part of a broad criminal justice initiative that will be signed into law on Thursday by Gov. Under the so-called Clean Slate Act, people who complete their sentences and remain out of trouble for a set period — three years for misdemeanors, eight for eligible felonies — will have their convictions sealed. The most serious crimes, including sex crimes, murder and most other class A felonies, will not be eligible for automatic sealing. New York will become one of a dozen states with such legislation, which is aimed at interrupting the cycle of recidivism by allowing formerly incarcerated people to access jobs and housing. The law will go into effect a year from now, though it will take three more years to clear the records of those currently waiting.

Persons: Kathy Hochul Organizations: Gov Locations: New York

☆ House Ethics Committee Finds Evidence George Santos Broke Federal Law
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Grace Ashford | More About Grace Ashford | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The House Ethics Committee on Thursday found “substantial evidence” that Representative George Santos had violated federal law, ending a nearly nine-month investigation and setting the stage for another likely push to expel the embattled first-term Republican from New York. House investigators found evidence that Mr. Santos used campaign funds for personal purposes, defrauded donors, and filed false or incomplete campaign finance and financial disclosure reports, according to a 56-page report released on Thursday. The committee voted unanimously to refer its findings to the Department of Justice, saying that Mr. Santos’s conduct “warrants public condemnation, is beneath the dignity of the office, and has brought severe discredit upon the House.”And while the panel refrained from recommending any punitive measures, there were already indications that the report could be the catalyst for a third effort to remove Mr. Santos from office. Numerous representatives have previously said that they would support his expulsion if the committee found criminal wrongdoing or a severe breach of ethics.

Persons: George Santos, Santos, Santos’s Organizations: Department of Justice Locations: New York

Mr. Santos, a Republican representing parts of Long Island and Queens, has not been charged in connection with Mr. Miele’s efforts. The congressman has said that he was unaware of the ruse, and fired Mr. Miele shortly after learning of it from Republican leadership. Prosecutors accused Mr. Miele of carrying out a fund-raising scheme in the fall of 2021 to aid Mr. Santos’s ultimately successful election campaign for the House. For his efforts, prosecutors say, he was paid 15 percent on whatever he brought in. Mr. Santos is facing 23 of his own felony counts, including wire fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft.

Persons: Santos, Miele, Santos’s, ” Mr, Dan Meyer, Kevin McCarthy, Mr, Joseph Murray Organizations: Republican, New York Times, Prosecutors Locations: Long Island, Queens

But he narrowly avoided becoming the first representative since the Civil War to be removed from office without a criminal conviction, and only the sixth member of the House to be expelled in the body’s history. Representative Kelly Armstrong, a Republican from North Dakota who is a former public defender, had predicted the expulsion of Mr. Santos would fail over due-process concerns. “What’s the point of having the Ethics Committee, if you don’t let them do their work?” Mr. Armstrong said hours before the vote. He added that he believed Mr. Santos should resign, but absent a decision from the “Ethics Committee or a conviction, it turns into a political vote. “You don’t get to get rid of due process in the hardest cases,” he said.

Persons: Kelly Armstrong, Santos, “, Mr, Armstrong, ” Organizations: Republican Locations: North Dakota, “

☆ George Santos Swore He’d Never Talk to Me. Then the Phone Rang.
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-22 | by ( Grace Ashford | More About Grace Ashford | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Not only did he need to support his family, he said, but he loved being a congressman. He loved working with people. And of all of the things he has said, this is the one that is most believable. Despite being excluded from House committees and rejected by much of his local community, Santos has forged ahead, introducing more than 40 bills. From an early age, he has been manifesting a life like this for himself — a life of consequence and power.

Persons: Santos, —

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday filed a significant array of additional charges against Representative George Santos of New York, accusing him of new criminal schemes, including stealing the identities and credit card details of donors to his campaign. The new accusations were made in a 23-count superseding indictment that laid out how Mr. Santos had charged his donors’ credit cards “repeatedly, without their authorization,” distributing the money to his and other candidates’ campaigns and to his own bank account. The new indictment filed in the Eastern District of New York added 10 charges against Mr. Santos: conspiracy to commit offenses against the United States, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, access device fraud, false statements to the Federal Election Commission and falsifying records to obstruct the commission. The accusations against Mr. Santos, a first-term Republican of New York, seem vastly different from the typical corruption cases that ensnare politicians. Many of those have hinged on intricate quid pro quos and complex legal questions about the nature of a political bribe.

Persons: George Santos, Santos, “ Organizations: of, Federal Locations: George Santos of New York, Eastern, of New York, United States, New York

☆ Latinos Have Transformed Sleepy Hollow, but Not Their Town Board
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Grace Ashford | More About Grace Ashford | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

It’s not hard to find signs of the Latino influence in this working-class village along the Hudson River: Mexican taquerias and Ecuadorean delis dot the promenade along Beekman Avenue, and neighbors greet one another in Spanish, while colorful flags dance in the wind. More than half the Village of Sleepy Hollow is of Hispanic origin, according to the most recent census. The village, about 30 miles north of New York City, is part of the Town of Mount Pleasant, which uses an at-large voting system that allows residents to cast ballots for all open positions. The Mount Pleasant town board has no Latino members, and no one could recall the last time it had one. That disconnect has led to a formal claim filed with the town, on behalf of five residents who say that they and other Latino voters are being disenfranchised.

Persons: It’s Locations: Mexican, Beekman, New York City, Mount Pleasant, Pleasant

Kathy Hochul of New York on Thursday forcefully urged President Biden to respond to the influx of migrants arriving in the state, underscoring the urgency of a situation that has vexed Democratic leaders for months. More than 100,000 migrants have traveled to New York City from the southern border over the past year, and more than half of them have taken refuge in the city’s shelters, straining the system. Unlike Mayor Eric Adams, the governor has taken pains to avoid overtly criticizing the president’s response, choosing to communicate with Mr. Biden and his staff behind the scenes instead. But the governor’s 10-minute address, live streamed from Albany, marked her most direct appeal to the federal government since she first called the migrant crisis a state emergency in May. She noted how the White House has failed to respond to her call to expedite work permits for newcomers and turn more federal properties into emergency shelters, saying, “We’ve managed thus far without substantive support from Washington.”

Persons: Kathy Hochul, Biden, Eric Adams, “ We’ve, ” Organizations: Democratic, White Locations: New York, New York City, Albany, Washington

A campaign aide to Representative George Santos who impersonated Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s former chief of staff was charged with wire fraud and identity theft in a federal indictment unsealed on Wednesday. Federal prosecutors said the aide, Samuel Miele, was behind “fraudulent fund-raising” emails and phone calls that were sent and made to more than a dozen potential campaign contributors. In his solicitations, Mr. Miele, 27, claimed to be a “high-ranking aide to a member of the House with leadership responsibilities,” the indictment said. When Mr. Miele successfully obtained campaign contributions, he received a 15 percent commission. He was arraigned on Wednesday morning in federal court in Brooklyn and pleaded not guilty, according to John Marzulli, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office in the Eastern District of New York.

Persons: George Santos, Kevin McCarthy’s, Samuel Miele, Miele, John Marzulli Organizations: U.S, of Locations: Brooklyn, Eastern, of New York

But the laws and guidelines surrounding House financial disclosures are relatively generous when it comes to timely filings. Mr. Santos is not the only member of New York’s House delegation who has yet to file a form. What’s NextNothing is ever certain concerning Mr. Santos, especially when it comes to finances. In the unlikely event that Mr. Santos does not file at all, he could face a civil penalty of up to $71,316. Mr. Santos is due back in the Capitol from August recess on Sept. 12.

Persons: Santos, Jamaal Bowman, Anthony D’Esposito, Brandon Williams Organizations: Devolder Organization, York’s, Bronx, Capitol Locations: Florida, Westchester County, Central Islip

☆ How George Santos Used Political Connections to Fuel Get-Rich Schemes
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Grace Ashford | More About Grace Ashford | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

About a year before George Santos was elected to Congress, he and three other men approached a loyal campaign donor with a potentially lucrative opportunity. A wealthy Polish citizen wanted to buy cryptocurrency, they said, but for reasons unclear, his fortune was frozen in a bank account. They asked the donor, a wealthy investor in his own right, for help. He was not told the Polish citizen’s name. The men’s plan — having the donor create a limited liability company to gain access to the funds — made no sense to him.

Persons: George Santos, — Organizations: Congress Locations: Polish

Representative George Santos, the New York Republican facing federal criminal charges, reported raising about $150,000 through his re-election campaign and an associated committee from April through June — a modest sum that he mostly used to pay back money he had lent to his past congressional bids. Mr. Santos had previously reported giving his own campaign more than $700,000 in personal loans, money that has been the subject of intense scrutiny given his apparent sudden rise in wealth and a lack of transparency around his business deals. On May 30, his campaign repaid him $85,000, according to reports filed with the Federal Election Commission on Friday. Kellen Curry, a Republican primary challenger, said he raised more than $200,000 in the same period. Other candidates who have entered the race had yet to announce their totals ahead of a Saturday deadline.

Persons: George Santos, Santos, Santos’s, Zak Malamed, Kellen Curry Organizations: New York Republican, Federal, Democratic, Republican Locations: Long Island, Queens

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