NY Rep. George Santos won’t seek reelection after scathing House ethics report

Embattled Republican Rep. George Santos said on Thursday he won’t seek reelection in 2024 after a bipartisan House subcommittee investigating him published a scathing report that found “substantial evidence” the Long Island and Queens lawmaker knowingly committed a series of ethics violations and potential crimes.

“I am humbled yet again and reminded that I am human and I have flaws, but I will not stand by as I am stoned by those who have flaws themselves,” Santos said in a post on X. “I will continue on my mission to serve my constituents up until I am allowed. 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' decision not to seek reelection comes as Republicans hold a razor-thin majority in the House. His announcement officially kicks off a new phase in a battleground district in eastern Queens and Long Island that he flipped to the GOP after years of Democratic control.

For more than eight months, the subcommittee conducted a detailed investigation into Santos to determine if he had violated House ethics rules and other laws. The subcommittee met nine times, authorized 37 subpoenas, received over 172,000 pages of documents and contacted more than 40 witnesses, according to its report, released Thursday morning.

The subcommittee found Santos filed false reports and disclosure statements with the Federal Election Commission and the House, engaged in fraud in connection with a limited liability corporation and used campaign funds for personal purposes, including paying off credit card and other debt, purchasing luxury goods and paying for other expenses.

Santos did not respond to requests for comment.

“Rep. Santos’ conduct warrants public condemnation, is beneath the dignity of the office, and has brought severe discredit upon the House,” Rep. Michael Guest and Rep. Susan Wild, who are respectively the chair and ranking member of the House ethics committee, said in a statement.

[READ THE FULL SUBCOMMITTEE REPORT HERE]

Since Santos took office, there have been numerous reports poking holes in the resume he ran on when he was elected. Despite his previous claims, the subcommittee noted that Santos was not the grandson of Holocaust survivors and did not attend Baruch College, receive a master's degree from NYU, work at CitiGroup and Goldman Sachs, or inherit any money from his mother, who he had said died in the 9/11 attacks.

Subcommittee witnesses testified that some of Santos' campaign staff “viewed him as a ‘fabulist,’ whose penchant for telling lies was so concerning that he was encouraged to seek treatment.”

The report cites a 141-page "Vulnerability Report" Santos' campaign gave him in December 2021 while also encouraging him to drop out of his race. When Santos refused, three of his campaign staffers quit, according to the committee’s report.

Santos is currently under federal indictment on 23 criminal charges, with a trial set to start next September. He is accused of multiple fraud schemes including embezzling campaign funds, identity theft, credit card fraud and lying on federal disclosure forms. He pleaded not guilty and continues to deny any wrongdoing.

But two former members of Santos’ campaign — treasurer Nancy Marks and fundraiser Samuel Miele — both pleaded guilty on fraud charges in connection with the campaign. Marks admitted in court that she worked with Santos to falsely report a $500,000 loan he claimed to make to his campaign, while Miele admitted to fraud in connection with impersonating a high-ranking congressional staffer to raise money for Santos.

The subcommittee report said it found “substantial evidence” supporting many of the allegations in the federal indictment, and “substantial evidence of additional uncharged unlawful and unethical conduct.”

Among the latter findings, the subcommittee identified significant errors related to loans reported to Santos' political action committee, GADS PAC, and evidence that he misreported and misused funds from his campaign donors.

Based on a detailed review of the campaign's expenditures and witness testimony, the subcommittee found numerous instances of campaign money being used for potentially personal expenses, including trips to resorts in Atlantic City and the Hamptons and thousands of dollars for Botox treatments at spas in Jericho, Long Island, and Rhinebeck in upstate New York.

According to the report, Santos also used money diverted from a business entity he controlled, RedStone Strategies LLC, to pay down personal credit card bills and other debt, purchase nearly $5,000 worth of luxury goods at Hermes, and make smaller purchases at OnlyFans — an online provider of pornographic content — and the cosmetic company Sephora, along with meals and parking.

The subcommittee submitted its report to the full House on Thursday and referred its findings to the Department of Justice for “further action as it deems appropriate,” according to a statement.

In his post on X, Santos did not address the subcommittee's allegations, other than to attack its work as a “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),” he said Santos. “It is a disgusting politicized smear that shows the depths of how low our federal government has sunk. Everyone who participated in this grave miscarriage of Justice should all be ashamed of themselves.”

He later issued another statement on X, indicating he would not respond to further media inquiries.

“Enough! No more, you’ve all taken your pound of flesh and I won’t allow it anymore," Santos said. "I’m going to dedicate my free time to my family whom I have neglected during this process. I wish you all well, but I am done! The communication door is closed, shut and sealed."

Asked about Santos’ reaction to the report, Tom Rust, chief counsel and staff director of the House ethics committee, declined to comment.

Calls for Santos’ ouster have increased in recent weeks. House members have twice formally tried and failed to remove Santos from the body, including one resolution sponsored by Democrats in May and another by Republicans last month.

A spokesperson for Guest, the House ethics committee chair, said he would introduce a resolution Friday to expel Santos, but it's unlikely a vote would happen until after Congress' Thanksgiving recess.

In Queens, the representative's office at Douglaston Parkway and Northern Boulevard remained uninhabited and dark in the hours after the report was released and Santos announced he was dropping his reelection bid.

One longtime resident in the area, Rick O’Connell, stopped to yell “You’re working for a criminal!” at the deserted office. O’Connell, 70, said he was disappointed Santos still remains in office even after reports of his fraudulent behavior.

“It’s a joke to say he’s not gonna run again — that means he’s got another year in office when it’s clear that he’s been doing things that he shouldn’t be doing,” O’Connell told Gothamist.

Other residents expressed different views.

Nathan Azizian, who has resided in the area for 29 years and said he’s met Santos, acknowledged Santos had erred but said he believes Santos is not so different from other politicians.

“Everybody’s doing it,” Azizian, 52, said. “You think everybody tells the truth in the beginning? So what? He made a mistake. Everyone is allowed to make a mistake in life.”

John Butler, 30, who has resided in the district for two years, told Gothamist the House ethics report doesn’t bode well for Santos.

“That’s a big collection of people,” he said. “And if that’s the decision they came to, yeah, I definitely don’t think that’s a good look.”

This story was updated to include additional information from the House ethics subcommittee's report and quotes from constituents in Santos' district.