It is not that the elected officials and potential candidates are wrong in again calling for U.S. Rep. George Santos to either resign or be expelled from Congress.
There was more than good reason to seek Santos’ removal even before he was charged in a 13-count indictment last week that included charges of money laundering, stealing public money, wire fraud and making false statements to Congress.
That indictment followed Santos confessing to forging two stolen checks in Brazil 15 years ago as part of a plea deal.
Santos had already admitted to essentially defrauding district voters in Nassau and Queens who elected him by lying about, well just about everything about his personal, professional and financial history.
This includes lies about attending college, working at Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, his religion and his finances.
So the calls by elected officials and potential candidates for Santos to leave office, either willingly or not, are certainly warranted. But they are also disingenuous at best and hypocritical at worst.
Let’s start with the obvious. Santos is not going to resign. So the calls for him to resign do set a standard for behavior but carry no weight.
If Santos had a sense of shame or decency he would have resigned when the grift he committed against 3rd Congressional District voters was exposed before he was sworn into office in January.
He now has even less reason to resign following his indictment on criminal charges.
His position in Congress now becomes a potential bargaining chip in any plea deal negotiations with federal prosecutors. And while this is going on, he is collecting a paycheck at taxpayer expense.
It may be galling to people living in the 3rd Congressional District who know they have no real representation in Congress with Santos around. But for Santos, the seat could mean a reduced sentence or no jail time at all.
So when U.S. Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-Island Park), who represents the 4th Congressional District, and other Nassau County Republicans call for Santos to step down from his seat it is hard to take him seriously.
Democrats such as Robert Zimmerman, who lost to Santos in the 2022 election, Nassau County Legislator Josh Lafazan and former state Sen. Anna Kaplan have all called for Santos to be expelled from Congress.
But both Lafazan and Kaplan have already announced their candidacy for Santos’ seat and Zimmerman is said to be considering it. Former Democratic U.S. Reps. Tom Suozzi and Steve Israel served the district for a decade before Santos flipped it in November.
So, the Democrats’ motives may not be totally pure since Santos’ expulsion from Congress would open the door for them to win back the seat this year and not have to wait until 2024 to try. And, if Santos isn’t expelled, the Republicans look bad.
They also have the benefit of being right.
But if Santos is such a bad actor – and he is – why hasn’t D’Esposito and other Nassau Republicans called on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy to expel Santos from Congress?
Well, House math. Republicans only hold a four-seat margin and McCarthy needs Santos’ vote to keep his job and support his agenda.
Santos provided McCarthy his vote in each of the 15 rounds it took for the California congressman to be voted House Speaker.
And just last week, Santos’ vote – like that of D’ Esposito – was needed by McCarthy to pass the House GOP’s proposal to increase the country’s debt limit.
So it is no surprise that McCarthy rejected taking action against Santos before or after the indictment against Santos was handed down. And that Nassau Republicans are not bucking the house speaker.
McCarthy said following the indictment that Santos had been charged, but not convicted of the federal charges and was still innocent in the eyes of the law.
McCarthy is correct.
For the moment, Santos has not been convicted of any crimes in the United States and should have his day in court. Or at least his time to negotiate with prosecutors a favorable plea deal. Santos pleaded not guilty to all charges at his arraignment last week.
This gets us to the hypocrisy, of Republicans.
Neither D’Esposito nor any other member of the Nassau GOP has called on former President Donald Trump to pull out of the Republican primary for president, which he leads by a large margin in the polls.
If we are being consistent, why not?
Unlike Santos, a jury actually found Trump guilty of wrongdoing last week. They said he was liable for sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll, a magazine writer, and awarded her $5 million in damages.
True, the verdict took place in a civil trial, but unlike Santos a jury voted unanimously that Trump committed serious violations of law.
And like Santos, Trump has also been indicted on criminal charges.
A Manhattan grand jury in April issued a 34-count criminal indictment against Trump, accusing him of orchestrating a hush-money scheme to silence a porn star that paved his path to the presidency and then covering it up from the White House. In at least one case, from the Oval Office.
But the response from Nassau Republicans was very different.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, who was the Nassau Republican Party’s liaison to the Trump campaign in 2020, called the indictment “political and malicious prosecution” – five days before it was announced by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
Three other investigations could result in charges against Trump.
Fani T. Willis, the Fulton County district attorney, is investigating whether the former president and his allies illegally meddled in Georgia’s 2020 election, which Mr. Trump narrowly lost to President Biden.
Special counsel Jack Smith is leading a probe into the potential mishandling of federal records taken to Mar-a-Lago after Trump left the White House.
He is also investigating the role of Trump of many others in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol in an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Former Rep. Liz Cheney, one of two Republican members of the House select committee that investigated Jan. 6, slammed Trump as “unfit for any office”
She said Trump had orchestrated a campaign to overturn the 2020 election that included watching a mob he incited storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and did not intervene to call off the siege — despite calls from top members of his administration and Trump’s own family.
Yes, Santos helped get elected by lying repeatedly to people living in the 3rd Congressional District about who he was. And yes, the federal charges against Santos are very serious.
But has anything Santos done compare to orchestrating a campaign to overturn a presidential election?
As for not telling the truth, Trump lied repeatedly about his finances, businesses, charitable giving and personal life before he became president. The Washington Post counted 30,573 false or misleading claims by Trump during his four years in office. And Trump has done nothing different since he left office.
He has repeatedly falsely claimed that the 2020 election was rigged and he actually won. This is known as the Big Lie.
So why demand that Santos resign but not oppose Trump in continuing his bid to reclaim the presidency?
It is not that Santos has been anything but a loyal supporter of Trump.
Like the former president, Santos called the Mueller probe of Russian interference in the 2016 election a “hoax.” He not only backed Trump when he promised to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade but said doctors who performed abortions should be criminally prosecuted.
Santos also attended the Stop the Steal rally that led to the attack on the Capitol and says he provided financial assistance to lawyers representing members of the mob who sought to overturn the election.
Santos even borrowed Trump’s language by calling the investigation into his activities a “witch hunt.”
D’Esposito said following Santos’ indictment “As a retired NYPD Detective, I am confident the justice system will fully reveal Congressman Santos’ long history of deceit, and I once again call on this serial fraudster to resign from office.”
Doesn’t that also describe the person leading the GOP presidential primary field?
If not, D’Esposito and other Nassau Republicans, including Chairman Joseph Cairo, should explain why.
