George Santos top aide quits as expulsion calls grow over ethics report

Scandal-ridden New York rep bows out of 2024

Santos won’t seek re-election after critical ethics report

A top aide to George Santos has quit after the House Ethics Committee issued a damning report about the actions of the freshman Republican congressman.

Gabrielle Lipsky resigned as communications director on Friday, the day after the report found that the 35-year-old had violated ethics guidelines, the rules of the House and criminal laws, and that he had been aware that he was crossing the line.

House Ethics panel chairman GOP Rep Michael Guest of Mississippi filed a motion for Santos’ expulson on Friday. The chamber can take up the motion on 28 November upon lawmakers’ return from Thanksgiving recess.

Santos claimed that he’s the victim of “dirty” politics after announcing that he won’t seek re-election in 2024.

Mr Santos wrote on X that he wouldn’t be seeking “a second term in 2024 as my family deserves better than to be under the gun from the press all the time”.

He later complained that he has suffered a “year from hell” and claimed that he’s a victim of the “poison” from the ethics committee.

Lamenting that he was just trying to “serve my country” by running for Congress, he claimed that his “rights” had been taken from him.

Key Points

• Santos was ‘ultimate beneficiary and knowing participant’ of campaign’s fraudulent reporting
• Santos behind ‘constant series of lies to his constituents, donors, and staff'
• Santos slammed by fellow New York Republicans
• Santos could face post-Thanksgiving expulsion vote
• Santos staffers allegedly plotted to spy on media
• Communications director quits

[17 November 2023 19:00 · John Bowden]

2 January 2023: Brazilian authorities come back to haunt George Santos

Happy New Year! While most Americans ring in the new year with champagne and late-night celebrations, George Santos wakes up the day after New Year’s Day to learn that he is now the only sitting member of Congress to face a serious international criminal investigation.

The New York Times, citing a spokesperson for prosecutors in Rio de Janeiro, reports that authorities intend to prosecute him for allegedly stealing a checkbook from an acquaintance of his mother and using it to make several purchases. The congressman has denied this.

[17 November 2023 19:30 · John Bowden]

10 January 2023: Rep Ritchie Torres and colleague formally request ethics probe

Not keen to let his new feud against George Santos go, Mr Torres and his New York ally Dan Goldman file a request for the House Ethics Committee to probe Mr Santos’s improper filing of financial disclosure forms.

11 January 2023: The GOP dam breaks

This marked the day that George Santos finally said goodbye to any immunity he had from attacks originating within his own party.

The Nassau County Republican Party held a press conference formally denouncing him as a member of Congress; it was attended by one of Mr Santos’s fellow GOP members, Anthony D’Esposito, who became the first sitting Republican to call for his ouster.

[17 November 2023 20:00 · John Bowden]

17 January 2023: Santos receives committee assignments

After days of reporters pressing House Speaker Kevin McCarthy about Mr Santos and whether he will be allowed to remain in Congress for two years, GOP leadership reveals that the extent of their punishment for Mr Santos’s countless lies will be assignments to smaller House committees with less desirable areas of expertise.

Mr Santos walks away from committee assignments with roles on two panels: the House Committee on Small Business, and the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

[17 November 2023 20:30 · Gustaf Kilander]

‘They gathered 170,000 documents in this investigation'

[17 November 2023 21:00 · John Bowden]

17 January 2023: Rep Ritchie Torres holds press conference with ‘Concerned Citizens of NY03’

Still working to keep the pressure on his in-state rival, Mr Torres brought a number of Mr Santos’s constituents to a press conference and touted his “SANTOS Act” — legislation that would force congressional candidates to supply basic information about their backgrounds to the federal government under penalty for perjury.

18 January 2023: Eula Rochard blows the lid off of ‘Kitara Ravache’

Just when everyone thought this story couldn’t get any weirder, a Brazilian drag performer by the name of Eula Rochard contacted a freelance reporter, Marisa Kabas, and supplied a picture of Mr Santos in drag.

The congressman, she said, performed in drag under the moniker “Kitara Ravache” when he lived in Brazil as a teenager.

Mr Santos would go on to deny this, but subsequent photos and videos emerged prompting another admission by the congressman, as well as this defeated quip: “Sue me.” It’s later discovered that a Wikipedia user who went by Mr Santos’s alias “Anthony Devolder” bragged about performing at a number of shows.

[17 November 2023 21:30 · John Bowden]

23 January 2023: Poll shows majority of New Yorkers want Santos gone

Perhaps spelling Mr Santos’s final fate, voters in his district and elsewhere around the state signaled in a poll published Monday that they favour the congressman resigning rather than spending two years in office. Even a plurality of Republicans, 49 per cent, said so.

Wherever Mr Santos goes from here, it’s hard to see a path for the 34-year-old freshman to win a second term as he faces unprecedented condemnation from his colleagues in every corner of Washington and hungry rivals back home.

[17 November 2023 22:00 · John Bowden]

20 February 2023: The Piers Morgan interview

In an another attempt to move past the avalance of scandals which have buried Mr Santos for weeks, the New York congressman appears for an interview with British broadcaster and notoriously tough interviewer Piers Morgan.

Prompted by Morgan to distinguish the difference between mere “embelishments” of his resume and outright dishonesty, Mr Santos tells the journalist: “I’ve been a terrible liar”.

[17 November 2023 22:45 · Gustaf Kilander]

‘Time’s up George'

[17 November 2023 23:30 · John Bowden]

2 March 2023: Ethics investigation

On 2 March, the House Ethics Committee announced it was investigating Mr Santos.

In a statement, the panel said that an “Investigative Subcommittee” will determine whether the freshman Long Island, New York, congressman may have “engaged in unlawful activity with respect to his 2022 congressional campaign; failed to properly disclose required information on statements filed with the House; violated federal conflict of interest laws in connection with his role in a firm providing fiduciary services; and/or engaged in sexual misconduct towards an individual seeking employment in his congressional office”.

[18 November 2023 00:15 · John Bowden]

17 April: Reelection bid

Despite his escalating scandals, Mr Santos launched his reelection bid.

In his campaign announcement, he made no mention of the investigations or his ballooning falsehoods.

“We need a fighter who knows the district and can serve the people fearlessly,” he said.