Santos Relishes the Limelight Even as His Show Looks Likely to Close

Author: Editors Desk Source: N.Y Times

December 1, 2023 at 06:50

George Santos argued against his expulsion at an early-morning news conference outside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday.Credit...Kenny Holston/The New York Times

Before the debate about his possible expulsion from Congress, George Santos seemed to embrace his starring role in a scandal of his own making.

It was likely to be his second-to-last day serving in Congress, and Representative George Santos of New York seemed determined to go out the way he came in: as a scandal-plagued curiosity attracting maximum attention.

The serial fabulist, indicted on 23 federal felony counts, arrived on the Capitol grounds at 8 a.m. Thursday for a news conference where he railed against the precedent that was being set with the vote to expel him scheduled for the following day.

Dressed in navy Ferragamo loafers he insisted were not purchased with cash he stands accused of stealing from his campaign (“Go on the website,” he said. “They’re six years old!”), Mr. Santos was surrounded by a semicircle of reporters he had lured out of bed with a promise of “big news.”

He did not resign. Instead, he said he was introducing a motion to expel another member, Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York, who earlier this year pleaded guilty to pulling a fire alarm in a House office building as Democrats sought to delay a congressional vote.

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