| Advertisement |
Oct. 27 (UPI) -- Rep. George Santos pleaded not guilty Friday to 23 new federal charges while also facing an effort from House Republicans to oust him from office. Santos, R-N.Y., entered the not-guilty plea in a federal courthouse in Central Islip, N.Y., for the arraignment on the latest charges.
Advertisement
A superseding indictment announced earlier this month by prosecutors charged Santos with wire fraud, making false statements, falsifying records, identity theft and access device fraud as he was accused of taking part in a credit card scheme that repeatedly charged the accounts of campaign contributors.
U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert set a trial date for Sept. 9, 2024. A status conference is scheduled for Dec. 12.
Previously, Santos pleaded not guilty in May to more than a dozen charges, including seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds and two counts of making false statements to the House of Representatives.
His former campaign treasurer, Nancy Marks, however, pleaded guilty to federal charges related to a scheme using false donor names to inflate the amount of campaign money Santos reported he had collected, which ultimately helped him qualify for national party support.
Friday's proceeding comes as GOP lawmakers, led by Rep. Anthony D'Esposito, R-N.Y., on Thursday introduced a privileged resolution to force a vote to expel Santos, saying the freshman congressman was "not fit to serve" while referring to the charges against him.
The measure requires the House to take action in the next two legislative days.
The chamber disbanded Thursday afternoon and was not set to return to Washington until Wednesday.
An investigation into Santos by the House Ethics Committee was sidelined for nearly a month as Republicans grappled with internal turmoil following the ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on Oct. 3.
After Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., was elected to fill the role on Wednesday, Republicans launched the alternative plan to remove Santos now rather than wait until the outcome of the ongoing probe.
D'Esposito informed Johnson of his plans to bring forward the privileged resolution and Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., said Johnson told them to "do what's right and do what's right for New York."
Santos responded to the resolution in a post on X, declaring, "I'm not resigning."
"I'm entitled to due process and not a predetermined outcome as some are seeking," he said.
Party members delayed the vote to oust Santos until the day after Johnson's election to give him a brief grace period to acclimate to his new role, according to LaLota who declared "we need to clean up the Santos mess for Long Island, for New York and for the House of Representatives."
Santos continues to deny any criminal wrongdoing and refuses to resign from Congress, saying he plans to run for re-election in 2024, while describing the charges against him as "a witch hunt."
