The Home Ethics Committee mentioned Thursday it had discovered “substantial proof” that the Republican consultant broke the legislation. George Santos of New York and forwarded its findings to the Division of Justice.
The committee mentioned Santos’ conduct deserves public condemnation, is unbecoming of workplace and has introduced the Home into grave disrepute.
Santos maintained his innocence and refused to resign regardless of calls from a number of of his colleagues to take action.
The panel mentioned Santos knowingly induced his marketing campaign committee to file false or incomplete experiences with the Federal Election Fee; used marketing campaign funds for private functions; and engaged in violations of the Ethics in Authorities Act with respect to monetary disclosure statements filed with the Home.
The ethics committee’s report additionally particulars Santos’ lack of cooperation in his investigation and the way he “evaded” requests for direct data.
The knowledge he supplied, the fee mentioned, “included important inaccuracies that additional strengthened the lies he advised throughout his 2022 marketing campaign.”
The findings of the investigative committee are maybe the least of Santos’ worries. The congressman faces a 23-count federal indictment who alleges he stole the identities of marketing campaign donors after which used their bank cards to make tens of hundreds of {dollars} in unauthorized expenses. Federal prosecutors say Santos wired among the cash into his private checking account and used the remainder to replenish his marketing campaign coffers.
Santos, who represents components of Queens and Lengthy Island, can also be accused of falsely reporting to the Federal Election Fee that he had loaned his marketing campaign $500,000 when in actuality he had given nothing and that he had lower than $8,000 within the financial institution. The faux mortgage was supposed to persuade Republican Celebration officers that he was a severe candidate, worthy of their monetary help, the indictment says.
Santos simply survived a vote earlier this month to expel him from the Home, with most Republicans and 31 Democrats opting to withhold punishment whereas his legal trial and Home Ethics Committee investigation continued.