Congress Full of 'Felons,' Lawmakers 'Screw' Lobbyists, George Santos Says

Embattled Representative George Santos, a New York Republican, called other members of Congress "felons" who are in bed with lobbyists in a Friday interview about the recent House Ethics Committee report against him.

Santos has long been dogged by reports that he falsified aspects of his personal history while running for office since being elected to Congress in 2022, and by further accusations that he mishandled campaign funds. On November 16, the House Ethics Committee released its report on the freshman congressman, concluding after a 10-month investigation that there is "substantial" evidence that Santos broke federal laws by improperly utilizing campaign funds, including using them on Sephora, Botox, and OnlyFans purchases, among others alleged infractions. Santos maintains his innocence and has pleaded not guilty to charges related to a criminal investigation into his alleged fraud.

In the wake of the report's release, Santos announced that he would not be seeking reelection to represent New York's 3rd Congressional District in 2024, presenting a new opportunity for Democrats to potentially retake the House. He may depart office sooner than that, however, as a new motion to expel him from Congress is being considered and, given the ethics report against him, may prove successful where past efforts have not.

On Friday evening, Santos was interviewed by conservative podcast host Monica Matthews on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, where he made his most extensive comments yet about the report, dismissing its findings and lashing out against the alleged misdeeds of his congressional colleagues.

"It's flawed. It was designed to smear me," Santos said about the report. "It was designed to force me out of my seat. That is what the intention of this report was. This report wasn't a finding of facts."

He later added: "Within the ranks of the United States Congress, there's felons galore, there's people with all sorts of sheisty backgrounds, and all of a sudden, George Santos is the Mary Magdalene of the United States Congress. I don't want to work with a bunch of hypocrites. It's gross. I have colleagues who are more worried about getting drunk every night with the next lobbyists that they're going to screw and pretend like none of us know what's going on and sell off the American people."

The newest motion to expel Santos from the House was filed by Representative Michael Guest, a Mississippi Republican and the chair of the House Ethics Committee, but has not been put on the House floor schedule, and would require a member to notice the motion as privileged in order for it to do so.

During the Friday interview, Santos said Guest should "be a man and stop being a p****," urging him to take the steps necessary to get the motion moving forward.

Newsweek reached out to Guest's office via email for comment.