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

[18 November 2023 17:01 · Megan Sheets]

Santos’ communications director quits

George Santos’ communications director Gabrielle Lipsky has resigned in the wake of the ethics report on her longtime boss.

The Hill reported Ms Lipsky’s resignation on Friday, a day after the bombshell report found evidence that Mr Santos had broken federal law.

Ms Lipsky began working on Mr Santos’ campaign in April 2022.

The move means Mr Santos will have to find a new top voice in his office as colleagues gear up for an expulsion vote.

[18 November 2023 19:00 · John Bowden]

Misuse of campaign funds

This is perhaps the widest variety of crimes Mr Santos is alleged to have committed — though not by much.

The congressman “was frequently in debt, had an abysmal credit score, and relied on an ever-growing wallet of high-interest credit cards to fund his luxury spending habits,” according to the investigative subcommittee. He used campaign funds to pay off those credit card debts in part, according to the Ethics Committee, while also making direct deposits from campaign accounts into his personal bank account.

He supposedly used these funds — transferred to his private accounts through various means — to make purchases at luxury brands including Hermes, on OnlyFans and for expensive meals.

[18 November 2023 21:00 · John Bowden]

False FEC reports

No campaign-related fraud is complete without lying to the Federal Election Commission, and Mr Santos is accused of doing that too. This remains an issue being played out publicly in New York court, where two of his former campaign staffers have now pleaded guilty to finance-related crimes in connection with his campaign. One pretended to be a staffer for Kevin McCarthy. Another, his treasurer, is accused of filing false reports to the FEC detailing the congressman’s fictitious loans and other questionable spending. She has testified in court filings that Mr Santos knew about her activities; he has denied this.

But the House investigation makes it clear that Mr Santos’s own campaign staff described their finances as a “black box” controlled and viewed only by Mr Santos and the treasurer, Nancy Marks. Despite his public statements to the contrary, the subcommittee report described him as “highly involved in his campaign’s financial operations”, and also faulted him for ignoring warnings from his own campaign staff about Ms Marks and financial irregularities within the campaign’s spending reports.

“Even if Representative Santoswas not aware of all of the other errors in his campaign reports relating to other receipts and disbursements, he had his own concerns and was repeatedly advised by multiple members of his team about concerns regarding Ms. Marks, but he failed to take meaningful action,” the report found.

[18 November 2023 23:00 · Rachel Sharp]

George Santos laments his ‘year from hell’ after ethics report release

George Santos has complained that he has suffered a “year from hell” following the release of a scathing House Ethics Committee report which found that he spent campaign donations on OnlyFans and Botox.

The embattled congressman and serial liar took to X late on Thursday night to paint himself as a victim of “dirty” politics and “poison” from the ethics committee.

Lamenting that he was just trying to “serve my country” by running for Congress, the man who has been exposed for lying about everything from 9/11 to being Jewish claimed that his “rights” had been taken from him.

“My year from Hell,” he began.

“Running for office was never a dream or goal, but when the opportunity to do so came I felt the time to serve my country was now.

“Looking back today I know one thing, politics is indeed dirty, dirty from the very bottom up. Consultants, operatives, the opposition, the party and more… the one thing I never knew was that the process in Congress was dirty. I will continue to fight for what I believe in and I will never back down.

“What the ‘ethics committee’ did today was not part of due process, what they did was poison a (sic) the jury pool on my on going investigation with the DOJ. This was a dirty biased act and one that tramples all over my rights.”

READ MORE

[19 November 2023 01:00 · Rachel Sharp]

Santos announces 30 November Capitol steps press conference

The New York lawmaker concluded by announcing that he will hold a press conference on the steps of the US Capitol in two weeks’ time.

“Press conference November 30th at 8am on The Capitol steps, I encourage ALL members of the press to attend. Happy Thanksgiving,” he added.

On Thursday, the House Ethics Committee released its damning report into the freshman congressman following a months-long investigation.

In it, the committee said it had uncovered “substantial evidence” that the GOP lawmaker broke federal laws and that he “knowingly caused his campaign committee to file false or incomplete reports with the Federal Election Commission; used campaign funds for personal purposes; engaged in fraudulent conduct in connection with RedStone Strategies LLC; and engaged in knowing and willful violations of the Ethics in Government Act as it relates to his Financial Disclosure (FD) Statements filed with the House”.

“In light of the ongoing criminal investigation into Representative Santos, and the ISC’s findings of additional uncharged and unlawful conduct by Representative Santos, the ISC recommended that the Committee immediately refer these allegations to the Department of Justice,” the panel wrote.

The committee found evidence that the debt-ridden Mr Santos used the money donors had paid to his campaign to fund his “luxury spending habits” including Botox treatments, OnlyFans payments and shopping trips to Sephora.

[19 November 2023 03:00 · Rachel Sharp]

$1,500 spent on Botox

Mr Santos allegedly transferred the campaign funds into his own account, then spent $4,127.80 at Hermes and several smaller purchases at OnlyFans.

Over $2,000 of campaign money was spent at casino resorts on the Atlantic City strip while more than $1,500 was spent on Botox, the report finds.

Mr Santos also splashed donor cash on a honeymoon to Las Vegas and a $3,000 stay at an Airbnb in the Hamptons.

“Representative Santos was frequently in debt, had an abysmal credit score, and relied on an ever-growing wallet of high-interest credit cards to fund his luxury spending habits. He occasionally deposited large amounts of cash that he has never accounted for, moved money between his various bank accounts in a highly suspicious manner, and made over $240,000 cash withdrawals for unknown purposes,” the report read.

[19 November 2023 05:00 · Rachel Sharp]

Indicted on 23 federal charges in New York

In October, Mr Santos was indicted on 23 federal charges in New York including campaign fraud, credit card theft and lying to the Federal Election Commission. Since then, two of his former staffers have pleaded guilty in the case.

Following the report’s release on Thursday, Mr Santos announced that he will not seek reelection – but continues to refuse to stand down from his role in Congress.

Writing on X, Mr Santos said 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” as he lashed out at the ethics committee claiming it does not have “a single ounce of ETHICS”.

The findings laid out in the ethics report mark just the latest scandal to encircle Mr Santos, after he was exposed for lying about a whole host of things on his resume, claiming that his mother died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks and being accused of stealing funds raised for a disabled veteran’s dying service dog.

[19 November 2023 07:00 · Rachel Sharp]

‘He’s gone'

These growing scandals have led many within the GOP to deem him unfit for office.

Earlier this month, the embattled New York congressman survived an expulsion vote in the House of Representatives, brought to the floor by fellow Republican lawmaker Anthony D’Esposito. The resolution needed a two-thirds majority to succeed, but fell well short.

Now, pressure is mounting on the Republican party to vote to expel him in light of the report revelations.

Two lawmakers told Axios that Michael Guest, the chair of the Ethics Committee, is planning to file a resolution on Friday to expel Mr Santos from the House.

Others who voted to save Mr Santos in the last expulsion vote told the outlet that this time round they will support his removal.

“He’s gone,” one House Republican said.

[19 November 2023 09:00 · Gustaf.Kilander]

George Santos won’t seek re-election after damning ethics report

Republican New York Representative George Santos has announced that he won’t seek re-election in 2024 following the release of a damning ethics report.

The freshman congressman made the revelation to Semafor on Thursday.

In a lengthy statement on X, Mr Santos wrote 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”.

READ MORE

[19 November 2023 11:00 · Gustaf Kilander]

‘Engaged in knowing and willful violations of the Ethics in Government Act’

The House Ethics Committee said in a statement on Thursday that Mr Santos “knowingly caused his campaign committee to file false or incomplete reports with the Federal Election Commission; used campaign funds for personal purposes; engaged in fraudulent conduct in connection with RedStone Strategies LLC; and engaged in knowing and willful violations of the Ethics in Government Act as it relates to his Financial Disclosure (FD) Statements filed with the House”.

“In light of the ongoing criminal investigation into Representative Santos, and the ISC’s findings of additional uncharged and unlawful conduct by Representative Santos, the ISC recommended that the Committee immediately refer these allegations to the Department of Justice,” the panel added.