House Ethics Committee To Investigate Scandal-Plagued Rep. George Santos

The House Ethics Committee voted unanimously to launch a probe into Rep. George Santos (R-New York) for a multitude of potential legal and ethical violations.

The committee, split evenly between Democrats and Republicans, released a statement that their probe will address allegations pertaining to potentially “unlawful activity” during his 2022 congressional campaign, lying about or omitting key information on forms for new House members, conflicts of interest, and a sexual misconduct accusation.

Santos is fully cooperating, according to his social media team.

Santos has received heavy criticism from many New York State representatives, including those from his own party like Rep. Nick LaLota (R-New York).

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-New York) and Rep. Daniel Goldman (D-New York) have filed “ethics claims” against Santos, arguing that the newly elected congressman “misled voters in his district about his ethnicity, his religion, his education, and his employment and professional history, among other things.”

On MSNBC, Torres said “Mr. Santos—by his own admission—is a terrible liar, which is the most honest thing he’s ever said.”

Santos has asked House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) to be removed from his committee assignments while investigations into his misconduct are underway. He had been assigned by Republican leadership to the Science, Space and Technology Committee, as well as the Small Business Committee in the House of Representatives.

“It is important that I primarily focus on serving the constituents of New York’s Third Congressional District and providing federal-level representation without distraction,” Santos said in a statement in early February.

Santos has admitted to “embellishing” his resume, namely where he claimed to have a degree from Baruch College and that he held professional positions at both Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.

Santos has been accused of sexual misconduct by one of his staffers, Derek Meyers, who detailed the allegation in a letter to the House Ethics committee last month.

Santos allegedly asked Myers if he had a Grindr profile, a popular LGBT dating app, before inviting the staffer to sit next to him on a sofa later that day while he was going through the Congressman’s mail.

“I proceeded to move forward with a discussion about the mail, but the Congressman stopped me by placing his hand on my left leg, near my knee and saying, ‘Hey buddy, we’re going to karaoke tonight. Would you like to go?'”

Article by Jakob Mieszkowski-Lapping