The Briefing Room
General Category => Politics/Government => Topic started by: Elderberry on January 26, 2023, 12:45:12 am
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Axios by Andrew Solender 1/24/2023
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Tuesday said Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) will be removed from Congress if the House Ethics Committee finds he broke the law.
Why it matters: It's the closest McCarthy has come to outlining potential consequences for the Long Island freshman amid a battery of investigations into revelations he fabricated huge swaths of his resume.
• In addition to the internal House Ethics probe, federal, state and local investigators are also probing various elements of the resume scandal for potential law-breaking.
What he’s saying: "If for some way when we go through Ethics and he has broken the law, then we will remove him," McCarthy told reporters at a press conference outside his Capitol office on Tuesday.
• Still, McCarthy said he will protect his embattled colleague for the moment. "You know why I’m standing by him? Because his constituents voted for him," he said.
• "I do not have the power, simply because I disagree with somebody on what they have said, that I will remove them from elected office."
More: https://www.axios.com/2023/01/25/mccarthy-george-santos-congress-law-investigation (https://www.axios.com/2023/01/25/mccarthy-george-santos-congress-law-investigation)
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Sounds good on paper, but it puts the keys to Santos' office in the hands of political prosecutors hired by Democrats. Case in point: Recall Tom DeLay. He was kicked out of Leadership when a Democrat Prosecutor in Austin Indicted him for nothing. The GOP had a rule causing that removal, while the Dems have no such rule.
AFAIK, that rule is still in effect.
MCarthy should have just stuck with "Screw you!"
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Sounds good on paper, but it puts the keys to Santos' office in the hands of political prosecutors hired by Democrats. Case in point: Recall Tom DeLay. He was kicked out of Leadership when a Democrat Prosecutor in Austin Indicted him for nothing. The GOP had a rule causing that removal, while the Dems have no such rule.
AFAIK, that rule is still in effect.
MCarthy should have just stuck with "Screw you!"
Great point, and with a slim majority in the House giving up one seat is not smart.