(RightIsRight.co) – The US House of Representatives Ethics Committee has officially launched an investigation into freshman GOP Rep. George Santos, who has been exposed as lying about his career, education, and background.
On Thursday, the House Ethics Committee established a special subcommittee investigating Santos. The panel was approved in a unanimous vote.
It will seek to establish “whether Representative George Santos may have: engaged in unlawful activity with respect to his 2022 congressional campaign,” among other actions, The National Review reported.
“[The subcommittee will investigate if Santos] 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,” the announcement explained.
The “George Santos subcommittee” will be chaired by Republican US Rep. David Joyce of Ohio, with Democrat US Rep. Susan Wild of Pennsylvania as a ranking member.
It will also include representatives John Rutherford (R-FL) and Glenn Ivey (D-MD).
A recent poll by Newsday and Siena College found that 78% of the voters from George Santos’s congressional district in New York would like him to resign for lying about his biography. Among Republican voters, the figure is 71%.
Santos has refused to resign but agreed to withdraw from his committee assignments.
Democrat Reps. Ritchie Torres of the Bronx and Daniel Goldman of Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan have asked the House Ethics Committee to probe the $700,000 that Santos loaned to his campaign even though until 2020, he reported an annual salary of $55,000.
They also claim that Santos may have violated the $200 disclosure limits for filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) multiple times.
Also on Thursday, the Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), a conservative nonprofit, filed an FEC complaint over George Santos’s case.
“The law is quite clear — federal candidates must report money raised and spent. Based on the facts presented in his own FEC filings, Rep. Santos and his campaign committee failed to report a large dollar amount of disbursements,” said FACT Executive Director Kendra Arnold.
“There are two separate facts indicating this is the case. First, his own filings show he didn’t report over $350,000 of disbursements, and second, the number of disbursements in the dubious amount of exactly $199.99 indicate either that they were not actually in that amount or that payments were structured in a way to avoid disclosure — either of which would be a major violation of federal campaign law,” Arnold added.
In another ethics complaint against Santos, a former staffer, Derek Myers, claimed last month that the first-term congressman sexually harassed him.
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House Ethics Committee launches investigation into George Santos https://t.co/1R6zFM6ZXV pic.twitter.com/nI63raMhH1
— New York Post (@nypost) March 2, 2023
