George Santos unwittingly trolls former colleague on Cameo after House expulsion: Latest
Disgraced former Congressman charges $200 for single video greeting
The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
Former Congressman George Santos is selling videos on Cameo, the site where celebrities offer short greetings for a fee.
Mr Santos was expelled from the House on Friday after more than a hundred Republicans joined almost all Democrats in voting to remove him from the chamber.
The 35-year-old describes himself as a “former congressional ‘Icon’” on the site, where he charges $200 per video. In one message, he told the buyer to “live life, laugh, and let the haters hate because they’re always gonna hate”.
Options to request include holiday messages, birthday wishes, some gossip, a pep talk, a roast, or some advice.
Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Fetterman’s social media team sent in a request for Mr Santos to do a pep talk for “Bobby from Jersey” in reference to New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez who stepped down as chair of the foreign relations committee after being indicted for allegedly taking bribes and acting as a foreign agent.
Mr Santos has joined only a handful of lawmakers ever ousted from their role, following a damning 56-page report from the House Ethics Committee which outlined “substantial evidence” that Mr Santos violated federal law.
House Majority PAC plans to spend big to take back Santos district
The House Democratic super PAC has revealed their plans to “a significant role in the NY-03 special election, and we will do whatever it takes to flip this district blue,” House Majority PAC President Mike Smith said, according to CNN.
George Santos's former district is ripe picking for the Democrats
George Santos no longer represents New York’s 3rd district after 11 months as its congressman. Many of his constituents will likely be happy he is gone.
His expulsion will now trigger a new election. But as he hails from a district that normally goes blue, Democrats have an opportunity to pick up a seat and reduce the House GOP majority by one seat.
In 2020, Mr Santos tried running against incumbent Democratic Rep Tom Suozzi, who beat him by 13 points in a district that Joe Biden had won by about eight points.
When Mr Suozzi ran for governor in 2022, that left the seat open. Democrats in New York that year attempted to draw a congressional district map that was more favourable to the Democrats, which kept the 3rd district and every other district the same.
But incumbent Democratic Gov Kathy Hochul, who was running for a full term after she replaced disgraced Governor Andrew Cuomo, severely underperformed in her race against then-congressman Lee Zeldin, winning by only 6.4 points in a state that Mr Biden won by 23.2 points in 2020.
Mr Zeldin won Nassau County, which includes Long Island and the 3rd district, by 10.5 points – flipping a county Mr Biden won in 2020.
Mr Santos won largely on the coattails of Mr Zeldin’s prowess and concerns about crime in New York City proper, given that Mr Santos’s district also includes parts of Queens.
Democrats will certainly be licking their chops in an attempt to flip the seat. Indeed, Mr Suozzi, who lost the primary against Ms Hochul, is running for his old seat, as are other candidates.
Democrats have overperformed in special elections ever since the Dobbs v Jackson decision last year that overturned Roe v Wade. But Republicans, now free of the stain of Mr Santos, will likely pour money into the seat and say that their next candidate will be more morally scrupulous than Mr Santos.
As of right now, the race can best be considered leaning toward the Democrats, but the GOP still has a shot.
Santos refuses to answer if he’s been asked to be on reality TV
On Thursday afternoon, Olivia Beavers of Politico asked Mr Santos if he had been asked to appear on a reality TV show.
“Olivia, I’m not going to answer that,” he said.
Garrett Haake of NBC News noted that it was “not a no”.
Who voted to expel George Santos?
One hundred five Republicans voted to expel Mr Santos, while 112 voted to keep him in office. Five Republicans didn’t vote.
Among the Democrats, 206 members voted to boot Mr Santos, and two voted to keep him in place, whole three didn’t vote.
The two Democrats who voted to keep Mr Santos in the House were Reps Bobby Scott of Virginia and Nikema Williams of Georgia – fellow Democrats Jonathan Jackson of Illinois and Al Green of Texas voted present.
In total, 311 members voted to remove Mr Santos, easily crossing the two-third threshold of 290 – 114 members voted against his removal, two voted present, and eight didn’t vote.
George Santos bitterly reacts to House expulsion: ‘To hell with this place’
Rep George Santos reacted bitterly to his expulsion from the House of Representatives after saying before the vote that he would leave “graciously”.
“The House spoke, that’s their vote. They just set new dangerous precedent for themselves,” he said after the vote, according to CNN.
He was asked if he would remain and utilize his nonmember privileges since he’s not yet convicted of any crimes, he said: “Why would I want to stay here? To hell with this place.”
“I had no skin in the game,” he added when asked if he knew he was about to be removed.
“You know what? As unofficially no longer a member of Congress, I no longer have to answer your questions,” he told the press.
105 Republicans vote to expel disgraced congressman George Santos from Congress
The US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to expel now-former congressman George Santos of New York, with 105 of his Republicans joining every Democrat to remove the embattled member from office.
Mr Santos joined the ranks of five other members of Congress--all of them Democrats and three of whom were members of the Confederacy--to be expelled, which he said he considered a badge of honor.
Votes to expel members of Congress are extraordinarily rare and require a two-thirds majority of the House of Representatives. The vote came after Speaker Mike Johnson and most of House Republican leadership voted to keep him in the House of Representatives.
The vote bookends Mr Santos’s spectacularly bizarre jaunt as a candidate and elected official. After initially losing his race in a district in Long Island in 2020, Mr Santos and a handful of Republicans flipped seats that had voted for President Joe Biden in 2022 when Democrats in New York underperformed amid concerns about crime. Mr Santos seemed to represent a new type of Republican as a gay Latino man with Brazilian heritage.
Did George Santos defraud a fellow GOP congressman?
An Ohio Republican who got into a contentious exchange with now-former New York congressman George Santos said he called himself a “victim” of the expelled Empire State representative because Mr Santos’s campaign ran up massive fake tabs on credit cards belonging to him and his mother.
In a letter distributed to fellow House members ahead of the historic vote to expel Mr Santos, Representative Max Miller said the ex-freshman representative’s 2022 campaign “had charged my personal credit card — and the personal card of my Mother — for contribution amounts that exceeded FEC limits”.
“Neither my Mother nor I approved these charges or were aware of them,” he continued, adding that he has expended “tens of thousands of dollars” in legal fees while trying to resolve the situation.
Andrew Feinberg has the full story.
GOP congressman claims he and his mother were defrauded by George Santos
Max Miller got into heated exchange with Santos before historic vote to expel lawmaker
...and then brand him a ‘woman beater’?
George Santos brands GOP lawmaker a ‘woman beater’
The 35-year-old called out ‘hypocrisy’ from Ohio Representative Max Miller on Thursday, who had branded him a ‘crook’
George Santos begins to plot his revenge
George Santos is not going quietly.
After his exit from the Capitol on Friday afternoon there was silence from the disgraced former Republican congressman. That is, until 11.35pm that night when he took aim at his first target, fellow New York Republican Rep Nicole Malliotakis.
He not only accused her of insider trading but also made claims about her personal life.
Mr Santos then said he would be filing an ethics complaint against the Staten Island rep.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies