House Representative George Santos, a Republican from New York, was expelled from Congress on Friday in a largely bipartisan 311-114 vote, after just one year holding office.
He managed to flip a traditionally Democrat-held seat in Queens and Long Island, but before he even managed to take office a New York Times report revealed he had lied about many aspects of his background. He claimed to be a Jewish descendant of Holocaust deniers, to have graduated from Baruch College (as a star volleyball player) with a Master’s Degree from NYU, and to have personal connections with victims of the 9/11 attacks and the Pulse nightclub shooting. All of these claims were found to be falsified.
It got worse from there, as further digging revealed a litany of suspected and confirmed financial crimes including to a 2008 fraud charge in Brazil, and a federal indictment for defrauding his own campaign donors to spend their campaign contributions on OnlyFans, designer clothes, and Botox.
This was the third attempt to expel him from office during his single year of service. It is only the sixth time a representative of the House has been expelled. Santos has denied all charges, though he admits he exaggerated on his resume.