Rep. George Santos hit with scathing ethics report, says he won’t seek reelection

The House Ethics Committee on Thursday issued a scathing report on embattled Rep. George Santos, following its monthslong investigation into the New York Republican’s actions that have led to nearly two-dozen pending felony charges and repeated efforts to expel him from Congress.

Santos has pleaded not guilty and defended himself, insisting he will remain in office, but in the immediate wake of the ethics report he said Thursday he will not seek reelection in his swing seat district, which includes parts of Long Island and Queens.

“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 said in a statement.

The 56-page ethics report, written by an investigative subcommittee, breaks down the 23 federal felony charges against Santos, including conspiracy, wire fraud, false statements, falsification of records, aggravated identity theft and credit card fraud.

The committee said its investigation “revealed a complex web of unlawful activity involving Representative Santos’ campaign, personal, and business finances.”

“Representative Santos sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal financial profit. He blatantly stole from his campaign,” the report states.

The report also found “substantial” evidence that Santos violated criminal laws, “some of which” are subject to pending charges. But it also alleges evidence of additional unlawful conduct, including regarding the information on federal election filings.

“He deceived donors into providing what they thought were contributions to his campaign but were in fact payments for his personal benefit,” the report states, repeating charges outlined against him by the Department of Justice in its indictment. “He reported fictitious loans to his political committees to induce donors and party committees to make further contributions to his campaign–and then diverted more campaign money to himself as purported ‘repayments’ of those fictitious loans. He used his connections to high value donors and other political campaigns to obtain additional funds for himself through fraudulent or otherwise questionable business dealings.

“And he sustained all of this through a constant series of lies to his constituents, donors, and staff about his background and experience.”

The Ethics Committee, however, did not make a formal recommendation to the House on a range of sanctions that could be coming for the freshman lawmaker, including expulsion.

Significantly, House Ethics Chairman Michael Guest will introduce an expulsion resolution Friday during a pro forma session, according to a source. Reps. Dan Goldman and Robert Garcia plan to introduce resolutions in the coming days as well.

Guest’s motion will kick off a third attempt to oust Santos. With Congress already out of Washington for the Thanksgiving holiday break, that expulsion resolution will not be considered until the next two days of legislative business — Nov. 28 or Nov. 29.

Santos, despite insisting publicly that he would be “100%” compliant, declined to speak with the Ethics Committee, with his attorney informing House investigators that “pursuant to my advice and the pending criminal allegations Representative Santos declines to voluntarily appear to be interviewed by the Committee,” the report states.

He also did not submit a written response to the allegations.

The subcommittee considered subpoenaing Santos but ultimately decided against it “to avoid further delaying its investigation” and because Santos’ lawyer had indicated he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Investigators “believed hat Representative Santos’ testimony would have low evidentiary value given his admitted practice of embellishment,” the subcommittee said in its report.

The committee found “substantial evidence” that Santos lied on federal election documents about making $800,000 in personal loans to his campaign — and that he “improperly repaid” himself more than $29,000 for loans that were not made.

The panel found no evidence that five of six reported loans were ever made and that Santos benefited “politically and financially” from the false loan information, which inflated the apparent finances of his campaign.

“Despite reporting the higher cash on hand totals, the reality was that the campaign did not have the funds to pay outstanding debts; at least one campaign staffer went eight months without being paid for his work,” the committee said in its report.

In a speech defending himself ahead of an expulsion vote in early November, which he survived, Santos said, “I’m fighting tooth and nail to clear my name in front of the entire world, Mr. Speaker. It hasn’t been easy, but I’m fighting by God’s grace.”

In a lengthy statement he posted on X Thursday after the report was released and while also announcing he would not run for reelection, Santos fired back at the House investigators.

“If there was a single ounce of ETHICS in the ‘Ethics committee’, they would have not released this biased report,” he wrote, seeking to dismiss the investigation as “a disgusting politicized smear that shows the depths of how low our federal government has sunk.”

New York freshman Republican Rep. Mike Lawler — whose disdain for Santos is well-known — called for Santos to resign not only “immediately” but also “today.”

“George Santos should end this farce and resign immediately. If he refuses, he must be removed from Congress. His conduct is not only unbecoming and embarrassing, it is criminal. He is unfit to serve and should resign today,” Lawler said.

ABC News’ Mariam Khan, Lauren Peller and John Parkinson contributed to this report.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.