If Congressliar George Santos' ship goes down, he hopes to take a colleague with him. In fact, he plans to file a privileged resolution at noon today to oust Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D–NY).
"Today at noon, I'm going to be introducing a privileged motion for expulsion of convicted and guilty pleaded Congressman Jamaal Bowman," Santos announced this morning at a press conference in front of the Capitol. (See video below, posted by The Recount.)
While Santos faces 23 federal charges and was labeled as someone who "cannot be trusted" by the House Ethics Committee in their scathing 55-page report against him, Bowman was merely fined after receiving a misdemeanor charge for pulling a fire alarm, which Republicans alleged was part of a stunt.
"I think that that's consistency," Santos continued, as if he were comparing apples to apples. "Now if the House wants to start [a] precedent and expel me, that is going to be the undoing of a lot of members of this body because this will haunt them in the future where mere allegations are sufficient to have members removed from office when duly elected by their people in their respective states and districts."
But Bowman was unfazed by the fraudster's last-minute panic move. "No one in Congress, or anywhere in America, takes soon-to-be former Congressman George Santos seriously. This is just another meaningless stunt in his long history of cons, antics, and outright fraud," he said, via The Hill.
From The Hill:
Santos — who faces 23 federal criminal counts — unveiled his plans during a farewell tour-esque press conference outside the Capitol on Thursday, one day before the House is poised to hold a vote on expelling him after the House Ethics Committee released a damning report on the congressman. …
Santos said he will call his measure to expel Bowman to the floor as a privileged resolution when the House opens for legislative business at noon, a maneuver that forces the chamber to act on the measure within two legislative days. Leadership, however, will likely hold a procedural vote instead of a referendum on the actual legislation, shielding the chamber from having to weigh in on expelling Bowman directly. …
Bowman has said he pulled the alarm by mistake when he was rushing to get to the House chamber before a high-stakes vote closed. Republicans, however, accused him of pulling the alarm on purpose to delay the vote.
Bowman's office said he made an agreement with the D.C. attorney general to withdraw the charge in three months if he writes an apology to the Capitol Police and pays a $1,000 fine.
