Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) was kept in Congress on Wednesday by a vote of 31 Democrats and 182 Republicans, defeating a Republican-led attempt to remove the troubled congressman.
This year’s attempt to remove the first-term congressman from the House was unsuccessful twice, as the lower house voted 213-179-19 against a resolution to do so.
A member of Congress may be removed from office by a two-thirds majority in the chamber.
24 Republicans and 155 Democrats voted in favor of Santos’ expulsion, while 31 Democrats and 182 Republicans voted against the proposal.
Santos’s legal battles were becoming more and more frequent, so a group of fellow first-term New York Republicans, led by Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, pushed last week to force a vote to remove Santos.
As a privileged resolution, D’Esposito called the bill to the floor, requiring the leadership to schedule a vote for the next two legislative days.
Prior to his trial, which is scheduled to start in September 2024, Santos is charged with 23 federal offenses in all.
He entered a not guilty plea last week to a superseding indictment that contained ten new criminal accusations.
The indictments stated that he had overstated his campaign financial reports and charged the credit cards of his contributors without permission.
He was accused on 13 counts in May of deceiving donors, obtaining unemployment benefits under false pretenses, and fabricating financial statements to the House.
Santos acknowledged earlier this year that he had exaggerated certain details about his past when running for office, but he has reaffirmed that he will not step down in spite of his legal issues.
[READ MORE: Pelosi Hit With Subpoena in New Criminal Case]
