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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

☆ After Calling Foes ‘Vermin,’ Trump Campaign Warns Its Critics Will Be ‘Crushed’
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-13 | by ( Michael Gold | More About Michael Gold | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Former President Donald J. Trump’s campaign rejected criticism that he was echoing the language of fascist dictators with his vow to root out his political opponents like “vermin,” then doubled down: It said on Monday that the “sad, miserable existence” of those who made such comparisons would be “crushed” with Mr. Trump back in the White House. “Those who try to make that ridiculous assertion are clearly snowflakes grasping for anything because they are suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome,” a campaign spokesman, Steven Cheung, said, “and their sad, miserable existence will be crushed when President Trump returns to the White House.”At a campaign event Saturday in New Hampshire, Mr. Trump vowed to “root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.” He then said his political opposition was the most pressing and pernicious threat facing America. “The threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous and grave than the threat from within,” Mr. Trump said. “Our threat is from within.”

Persons: Donald J, Trump’s, ”, Trump, Steven Cheung, “, Mr Organizations: Trump Locations: New Hampshire, America

☆ Trump Takes Veterans Day Speech in a Very Different Direction
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-11 | by ( Michael Gold | More About Michael Gold | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

He also promised to care for America’s veterans, reviving a hyperbolic claim that he made throughout his 2016 campaign that Democrats “treat the illegal aliens just pouring into our country better than they treat our veterans.”And he said he would divert money currently earmarked “for the shelter and transport of illegal aliens” to instead provide shelter and treatment for homeless military veterans. Here are some of the more notable elements of Mr. Trump’s Veterans Day speech. Courtroom CamerasMr. Trump, who is facing a civil fraud trial in New York and four criminal indictments, said in a radio interview earlier this week that he would welcome cameras in the courtroom. He went further on Saturday. “I want this trial to be seen by everybody in the world,” Mr. Trump said to a cheering crowd, referring to his federal election trial in Washington.

Persons: Trump’s, Trump, “, Mr, Biden, weaponizing Organizations: “, Justice Department Locations: New York, Washington

Ron DeSantis, Florida’s most prominent politicians, have circled each other on the campaign trail, with Mr. Trump consistently ridiculing Mr. DeSantis and the governor only recently beginning to fire back. It was the rare occasion where Mr. Trump and Mr. DeSantis were set to share the same stage, albeit hours apart. Yet Mr. DeSantis, who faces a vast polling gap behind Mr. Trump, did not directly attack the former president, whose manhood he questioned this week. Even as the rivalry between Mr. Trump and Mr. DeSantis has defined the presidential primary contest for months, the former president’s grip on the party has not loosened. Mr. DeSantis, long considered his foremost challenger, has been losing ground.

Persons: Donald J, Ron DeSantis, Trump, DeSantis Organizations: Trump, Gov, Mr, Florida Freedom, Republican Locations: Florida, Kissimmee

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, “

One of Donald J. Trump’s new comedic bits at his rallies features him impersonating the current commander in chief with an over-the-top caricature mocking President Biden’s age. With droopy eyelids and mouth agape, Mr. Trump stammers and mumbles. A burst of laughter and applause erupts from the crowd as he feigns confusion by turning and pointing to invisible supporters, as if he does not realize his back is to them. Mr. Trump has had a string of unforced gaffes, garble and general disjointedness that go beyond his usual discursive nature, and that his Republican rivals are pointing to as signs of his declining performance. On Sunday in Sioux City, Iowa, Mr. Trump wrongfully thanked supporters of Sioux Falls, a South Dakota town about 75 miles away, correcting himself only after being pulled aside onstage and informed of the error.

Persons: Donald J, Biden’s, Trump, squints Organizations: Republican Locations: Sioux City , Iowa, Sioux Falls, South Dakota

☆ Dean Phillips Will Run Against Biden
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-26 | by ( Michael Gold | More About Michael Gold | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Representative Dean Phillips, a moderate Minnesota Democrat who has for months publicly argued that President Biden should not run for re-election, announced his candidacy for president on Thursday, setting up an underdog challenge for the Democratic nomination. In an interview with CBS News, Mr. Phillips — who plans to officially launch his campaign on Friday in New Hampshire — argued that finding an alternative to Mr. Biden was essential because of polling showing the president at risk of losing to former President Donald J. Trump. “I will not sit still and not be quiet in the face of numbers that are so clearly saying that we’re going to be facing an emergency next November,” he said. Late Thursday evening, he posted his campaign announcement on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, saying, “It’s time to put our country back together again.”Mr. Phillips, a third-term congressman who represents a district that includes suburban Minneapolis, enters the race with long-shot odds.

Persons: Dean Phillips, Biden, Phillips —, New Hampshire —, Donald J, “, ”, ” Mr, Phillips Organizations: Minnesota Democrat, Democratic, CBS News, Trump Locations: Minnesota, New Hampshire, Minneapolis

☆ Mitt Romney’s Sickest Burns: Book Reveals Harsh Views of Fellow Republicans
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-19 | by ( Michael Gold | More About Michael Gold | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Even before Senator Mitt Romney of Utah announced he would not seek re-election next year, he made no secret of his disapproval of the direction of the Republican Party and former President Donald J. Trump’s grip on it. But in a new, deeply reported biography, “Romney: A Reckoning,” set to be released next week, Mr. Romney goes beyond his broad disdain for the party and gives his unvarnished opinion of some of his fellow Republicans. In interviews with the book’s author, McKay Coppins, Mr. Romney, who was the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, offers frank appraisals that are rare in Washington. Such tell-all, insider books often foster a practice known as the “Washington read,” in which boldfaced names immediately flip through the index to find out what damaging assessments may come to haunt them.

Persons: Mitt Romney, Donald J, “ Romney, ”, Romney, McKay Coppins Organizations: Republican Party, Republican Locations: Utah, Washington

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

☆ G.O.P. Candidates Focus on China to Demonstrate Foreign Policy Credentials
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-21 | by ( Michael Gold | More About Michael Gold | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

By focusing on China, the candidates can make detailed policy pronouncements and play up their credentials, yet avoid discussion of Russia or Ukraine, an increasingly divisive topic among Republicans. All of the candidates have blasted President Biden’s attitude toward China. One of the Biden administration’s focal points has been targeting China’s semiconductor industry. The administration has enacted export controls and helped push the CHIPS and Science Act, a bipartisan law that provided billions of dollars toward fostering a homegrown semiconductor industry that could make America less dependent on foreign suppliers. “I am opposed to the CHIPS Act,” he said, “because it is really the Green New Deal masquerading in CHIPS masquerade clothing.”

Persons: Trump, Biden, Ramaswamy, ” Organizations: Republican, Intel, Green Locations: Beijing, China, Russia, Ukraine, America

☆ Trump Returns to Iowa, Where Rivals See Their Best Chance
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-20 | by ( Michael Gold | More About Michael Gold | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Even as former President Donald J. Trump faces a crowded field of Republican primary challengers, he has kept a relatively light campaign schedule, particularly in Iowa, the first state to hold a nominating contest in the 2024 election. But with less than four months until Iowa’s caucuses, Mr. Trump and his team are beginning a more concerted effort to lock up his support there, starting with two events on Wednesday in eastern Iowa that represent the first of five planned visits to the state over the next six weeks. The increased pace of Mr. Trump’s Iowa visits, along with a six-figure advertising purchase by a super PAC supporting him, suggest a more concerted effort by his campaign and supporters to halt his rivals before any can gain momentum and pose a threat. With Mr. Trump holding a commanding lead among Republicans both in national surveys and in Iowa polls, some rivals have made barnstorming the state a cornerstone of their strategies, hoping a victory there could help them coalesce support in later primaries.

Persons: Donald J, Trump Organizations: Republican Locations: Iowa, Trump’s Iowa

☆ Santos, on CNN, Clashes With Interviewer and Strikes Fighting Pose
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( Michael Gold | More About Michael Gold | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

In the months since Representative George Santos’s series of lies and exaggerations were exposed, he has adopted a defiant stance toward reporters, accusing the news media of leading a biased crusade against him. But on Tuesday, the House’s first day back after its summer recess, Mr. Santos did something that he has avoided since taking office: He gave a major television interview. The pugilistic attitude that Mr. Santos has long held toward critics was on full display. He called CNN a “hack network,” said the reporting around his life bore little resemblance to reality and tangled with the anchor Erin Burnett. Even as Mr. Santos, 35, faces a raft of federal criminal charges and awaits the conclusions of a monthslong House ethics inquiry, to which Republican leaders have tied his fate, he will not go down without a fight.

Persons: George Santos’s, Santos, ”, Erin Burnett Organizations: CNN, Republican

☆ ‘I’m Being Indicted for You,’ Trump Tells South Dakota Rally
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-09 | by ( Michael Gold | More About Michael Gold | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When Donald J. Trump came to South Dakota in July 2020, then a president in the middle of his re-election campaign, he stood in front of Mount Rushmore and outlined a dark vision of what he claimed his opponents on the left would do to the country. Three years, an election defeat and four indictments later, Mr. Trump returned on Friday to South Dakota for a rally, where he struck a similar message: that he was the sole bulwark keeping America from falling into ruin. “They’re just destroying our country,” Mr. Trump told a crowd of roughly 7,000, this time at a hockey arena in Rapid City, S.D. “And if we don’t take it back — if we don’t take it back in ’24, I really believe we’re not going to have a country left.”Appearing at a large-scale event for the first time since he stood for a mug shot in Georgia late last month, Mr. Trump acknowledged that his circumstances had changed. Yet he referred to the four criminal cases against him proudly — and as an applause line.

Persons: Donald J, Trump, Rushmore, “, Mr, ” Locations: South Dakota, Rapid City, S.D, ’, Georgia

☆ G.O.P. Chair Says Candidates Must Talk About Abortion to Win in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Michael Gold | More About Michael Gold | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“If our candidates aren’t able to find a response and put out a response, we’re not going to win,” Ms. McDaniel said. “Someone tell her they’re also not going to win if they do talk about abortion,” a leading abortion rights group, Naral Pro-Choice America, responded on X, formerly known as Twitter. This month, Ohio voters rebuffed a Republican-backed ballot measure that would have made it more difficult to amend the state’s constitution, an effort by Republicans to make it harder for voters to preserve abortion rights through an amendment. Though abortion was not technically on the ballot, discussion of the issue dominated the conversation. While a 2024 candidate’s fierce opposition to abortion may help draw voters in a Republican primary, that stance could hurt them with moderate or independent voters in a general election.

Persons: we’re, ” Ms, McDaniel, ” Organizations: Republican Locations: Ohio

☆ Who Won the Debate? Political Observers Weigh In.
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( Michael Gold | More About Michael Gold | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The first Republican debate on Wednesday night offered political pundits a bit of a thought experiment: If the clear front-runner doesn’t take part, can the debate have a clear winner? Still, some pundits said that Mr. Trump’s absence did offer candidates the chance to differentiate themselves, an opportunity they may not have had if he had participated. And the battle to become Mr. Trump’s top challenger, some said, is more hazy. Ron DeSantis of Florida in some ways entered Wednesday’s debate with the most to prove and the most to lose. While he has long been viewed as Mr. Trump’s strongest potential challenger, his campaign has stumbled in recent weeks amid fund-raising trouble and staffing changes.

Persons: doesn’t, Donald J, Trump, Trump’s, Ron DeSantis Gov, Ron DeSantis Organizations: Republican Locations: Florida

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

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

Here’s what to know about Mr. Bragg’s background and career:The district attorney has lived in Harlem for most of his life. Mr. Bragg was born on Oct. 21, 1973, to Alvin Bragg Sr., a social services worker, and Sadie Bragg, a teacher. He attended Trinity, an elite private school in Manhattan, before going to Harvard. Mr. Bragg beat out eight other candidates to become the district attorney. In June 2019, Mr. Bragg declared that he was running for Manhattan district attorney.

Persons: Bragg, Alvin Bragg, Sadie Bragg, ”, Robert Patterson Jr, ’, Preet Bharara, “ We’re Organizations: Trinity, Harvard, Black Students Association, Harvard Crimson, New, Southern, of Locations: Harlem, Manhattan, “, New York, of New York

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