George Santos' Problems Are Far From Over

Despite surviving an expulsion vote in the House of Representatives yesterday, George Santos' problems are far from over.

The New York congressman faced a vote in the House led by his fellow Republicans after he was indicted in May, accused of fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and lying about his campaign finance disclosures.

He allegedly stole donors' identities and charged thousands of dollars to fund his campaign with their credit cards "repeatedly, without their authorization," according to court filings.

He is also accused of falsely listing himself and relatives as the sources of the funds when campaign deposits exceeded legal limits and making deposits to his personal account as well as companies associated with his campaign.

The now 23-count indictment was updated last month to add 10 new charges including detailing the credit card scheme and a conspiracy to submit false reports to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) that inflated his campaign's fundraising to deceive the Republican party into extending financial support.

He allegedly filed false reports to the FEC claiming he had raised at least $250,000 from third-party donors in a single quarter, which is the threshold needed to unlock financial support from the GOP.

Santos, who Newsweek has reached out to comment on this story, has repeatedly denied all the charges.

But with 179 voting to expel him yesterday because of these charges and 213 voting not to, the motion fell short of the two-thirds majority needed to oust a House member.

Regardless, Santos will still face a trial on his charges, with the judge setting a trial date of September 9, 2024. It is expected to last a month, NBC reports.

He also faces a June 2024 primary that he must win to advance to a general election. He may struggle to command the full support of his Republican colleagues given 24 Republicans voted to expel him.

Meanwhile, he is also under an ethics investigation in the House. The Ethics Committee, issued a rare memo the day before his expulsion vote, citing the depth of its investigation with some 40 witnesses contacted and the issuance of 37 subpoenas. It also said the next steps of the committee's investigation would be announced by November 17.

In a speech on the House floor ahead of the vote, Santos said: "The loss of the presumption of innocence establishes a dangerous precedent that threatens the very foundation of our legal system."

After the vote, he said: "I feel like due process is still alive. I feel like there's enough colleagues on both sides of the aisle here who understand that.

"I'm fighting tooth and nail to clear my name in front of the entire world. It hasn't been easy, but I'm fighting by God's grace."