Republican New York Rep. Mike Lawler encouraged members of his party to vote to oust disgraced congressman George Santos.
Lawler told CNN anchor and former Daily Caller reporter Kaitlan Collins that Republican New York Rep. George Santos will likely be removed from office. (RELATED: House Ethics Report Finds ‘Substantial Evidence’ George Santos Broke The Law)
“He is a serial liar,” Lawler said.
Lawler said that it is “long past time” for Santos to leave office and that if he had any “decency” he would’ve already resigned from office. He said that he believes that the “votes are there” to remove the embattled congressman.
“This isn’t about party. This is about the country, it’s about the institution,” he said.
Lawler outlined several of the accusations levied against Santos including defrauding voters, defrauding donors, misusing campaign funds for purchases such as OnlyFans, and having a staffer impersonate Kevin McCarthy’s chief of staff on a phone call with donors.
“It’s absolutely absurd,” Lawler said.
Lawler argued that Santos should’ve known better than to misuse campaign funds for personal purchases. He claimed that campaign funds should be used to “get your message out to the voters” and should not be used for “personal gain.”
“Obviously, at the end of the day, this is about the public trust. This is about the people we represent being able to trust that we have their best interest at heart,” Lawler said.
The House Ethics Committee released a report on Thursday outlining a series of potential violations of federal law by Santos. The report alleges Santos “knowingly” committed fraud, lied to donors, funneled campaign money into his personal bank account, and spent campaign money for personal purchases including OnlyFans and Sephora. The report corroborates a 23-count superseding indictment issued to Santos from the Eastern District of New York in October, accusing him of charging his donors’ credit cards without their consent, wire fraud, and money laundering, among other charges.
Santos attacked the report on Twitter, accusing it of being a “biased” attempt to “smear” him. The congressman also announced that he would not be seeking reelection.
“If there was a single ounce of ETHICS in the “Ethics committee”, they would have not released this biased report. The Committee went to extraordinary lengths to smear myself and my legal team about me not being forthcoming (My legal bills suggest otherwise),” Santos tweeted.
“I will however NOT be seeking re-election for a second term in 2024 as my family deserves better than to be under the gun from the press all the time,” Santos continued.