George Santos was caught tripping and falling on the rain-soaked stairs of the DC Waldorf Astoria, reportedly breaking his watch in the process. The incident happened around 10pm on December 2, with bystanders reportedly laughing at the disgraced politician. It's unclear if anything other than the wet conditions caused Santos to fall over.
The incident came a day after Santos became the sixth member of Congress in history to be expelled. Furthermore, Santos was the first Republican to be formally expelled and the first representative to be expelled since 2002. The last member of Congress to be expelled was Ohio Democrat James Traficant, who had been convicted on bribery charges. A majority of Republicans voted to keep Santos in Congress. However, just enough Republicans sided with the Democrats to remove Santos.
Why Was George Santos Expelled?
George Santos was expelled from Congress as a result of a 319-114 vote on the House floor. The size of the majority far exceeded the two-thirds majority needed to expel a member of the House. It came nearly a year after reports first emerged suggesting that Santos had lied extensively on his resume and misappropriated campaign funds. However, Santos has consistently maintained his innocence and claimed that the allegations were merely unsubstantiated attacks by Democrats. Despite this, things only continued to get worse over the course of 2023 for Santos, who became the embarrassment of the Republican Party in Congress. The speaker of the house, Mike Johnson, was one of the Republicans who voted to keep Santos in public.
However, 105 of Santos' colleagues joined 206 Democrats in voting to expel Santos. Having flipped a Democrat district in 2022, Santos was crucial in holding the slim majority that the Republicans earned at the last midterms. However, the fate of his district, New York 3, is unknown. Many pollsters already had it flipping back to the Democrats in 2024. However, it's currently unclear if the scandal of Santos will mean that the retaking of the district will be accelerated. The fallout of Santos' expulsion remains a developing story. We'll have any updates as and when they emerge.
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