Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) didn’t mince words on Friday following his expulsion from Congress for allegedly misusing campaign funds.
“Why would I want to stay here?” Santos told reporters following his expulsion in a 311 to 114 vote.
“To hell with this place,” he added.
Santos was expelled following a House Ethics Committee investigation that uncovered he had allegedly spent thousands of dollars of campaign funds on personal expenses, including Botox, designer clothes, beauty products and even paying down his own personal credit card debt.
“He blatantly stole from his campaign,” the report said.
Santos is also facing federal charges for allegedly stealing the identities of donors to his campaign and using their credit cards to charge thousands of dollars for his expenses.
One of those alleged victims is Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio), who sent an email to House Republicans just before the expulsion vote.
“Earlier this year I learned that the Santos campaign had charged my personal credit card ― and the personal card of my Mother ― for contribution amounts that exceeded FEC limits,” Miller wrote. “Neither my Mother nor I approved these charges or were aware of them. We have spent thousands of dollars in legal fees in the resulting follow up.”
Santos is a serial liar who once falsely claimed his mother had died in the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. She lived in Brazil at the time of the attack and died in 2016.
Santos is the sixth House member to be expelled and the first Republican House member.