In a historic first for the U.S. House of Representatives, the body voted to expel a Republican congressman, Rep. George Santos of New York, after the embattled freshman faced a long list of fraud claims.
Santos, who shockingly misled voters about various aspects of his life to be elected, stormed out of the chamber after losing the vote by a 311-114 margin. The House needed a two-thirds super majority of 290 to expel Santos, with fellow Republicans voting 105 yeas to 112 nays.
A House Ethics Committee investigation found what many had already learned about Santos’ questionable decisions to earn his House seat. Santos was found to have illegally spent campaign funds on shopping sprees and Botox treatments, among other misdeeds.
Santos also was discovered to have made up much of the information about himself that he campaigned on, including his name, occupation, education and work background, and even an outstanding fraud charge in Brazil.
Santos becomes the first Republican member to be expelled from the House, and the sixth overall. Three of those were Democrats who were found to be sympathetic to the South during the Civil War.
