House Ethics Committee Finds Evidence George Santos Broke the Law Transcript

The House Ethics Committee just released its report on indicted Congressman George Santos, and the big headline from this report, as we’re still going through it. They say that there is substantial evidence that Santos violated federal laws. Let’s get right to NBC’s Julie Tsirkin now on Capitol Hill for us. Julie, what else are you reading in this report?

Well, look, this is the work of the committee that has been pouring over this topic, investigating Santos, and now we have this report just in a couple of minutes ago. They say that Santos blatantly stole from his campaign, spending campaign funds according to this report, which we are just going through now, on things like Botox, lavish trips to Atlantic City, on OnlyFans, on designer goods. I mean really everything under the sun, he misappropriated official campaign funds again that were supposed to go to his campaign for personal expenses. The committee is also saying that Santos’ conduct warrants public condemnation. They say it was beneath the dignity of the office and has brought severe discredit upon the House. I mean, really going through this report, they’re all but recommending that Santos be expelled without really going that far, but the things they’re alleging in here is certainly damning on it.

So you say all but recommending he be expelled. What are they recommending then when it comes to discipline?

Yeah, they’re not recommending that the full House actually expel Santos. Michael Guest, who is the Republican chair of this bipartisan panel, actually told our team yesterday that this is because it would’ve delayed the release of the report by several months. What the committee does do, which I think is pretty unprecedented when it comes to these ethics committee reports and investigations, they actually say that the committee has unanimously voted to adopt the investigative subcommittee report, and with it refer the substantial evidence of potential violations of federal criminal law to the Department of Justice for such further action as it deems appropriate. That is certainly an escalation.

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We already know that Santos is under multiple investigations. He was indicted in New York on 20 something charges. This is really serious, and the committee apparently thinking that this deserves the Justice Department to look at it once again, to take their work and take it a step forward. Again, though, that doesn’t mean that the House will not vote to expel Santos. In fact, we know that move was tried two weeks ago. Perhaps this report will certainly change members’ minds or make them more comfortable with taking that step.

And again, there’s already a federal investigation. It’s been ongoing now for several months. We heard from Congressman Santos yesterday, still very defiant. Let’s play part of what he said.

Regardless of what this report says, is your plan to fully serve, stay in Congress, not resign?

Like I said before, I’m staying in office for sure.

He says he’s staying in office. So what are you hearing from his fellow Republican members, Democrats? Any news after this report dropped?

Well, he could stay as long as he wants and say he could stay as long as he wants, but ultimately this will be up to the full House. We’ve reached out to speaker Mike Johnson, who previously wanted to wait for this ethics report to come out. He said Santos deserved to have due process. Of course, his trial is still ongoing with that date set for next September, but we did speak to some of his fellow New York Republican colleagues, those freshmen who, like I said, two weeks ago, took to the floor to try and expel him then. Here’s what they said yesterday. Again, this is before the report. Watch.

George Santos is a fraud. He should not be a member of Congress.

I’m from New York. My district is right next to Santos’ District. My voters and I are quite aware of the fraud that he perpetuated. I don’t need an ethics report to tell me what I already know.

Now, last time you did have some Democrats who also joined some of these Republicans to save Santos at that time. I did ask House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries about this just yesterday. He said potentially we could see a vote on the House floor at the end of November or early December. He didn’t want to give his cards away for what would happen, but certainly there is a general sense among Republicans and Democrats, especially with this report that will help convince some of those who struggled to condemn Santos by expelling him, that they could potentially make this step and go forward now, now that we have this damning report from the ethics committee with some pretty revealing charges.