George Santos Seeks Revenge

George Santos has vowed to file ethics complaints against four members of the House of Representatives after the lower chamber of Congress voted to expel him in a historic vote.

On Friday, more than 100 House Republicans joined with Democrats to remove the accused fraudster in a 311-114 vote, clearing the two-thirds threshold required for the motion to pass.

Santos hit back on X, formerly Twitter, in a series of posts. He wrote that he will report four of his former colleagues, three Republicans and one Democrat, who voted against him to the Office of Congressional Ethics.

Those listed were New Jersey Democrat Rob Menendez and Republicans Nicole Malliotakis, Mike Lawler and Nick LaLota. Newsweek has reached out to the offices of Reps. Malliotakis, Lawler and LaLota by email, as well as that of Rep. Menendez by telephone and voicemail message.

Posting on X, Santos wrote that he would request an investigation into Malliotakis, "regarding her questionable stock trading since joining the Ways and Means committee this Congress."

The disgraced former congressman accused Lawler of "questionable campaign finance violations," adding: "Congressman Lawler owns portion of Checkmate Strategies and he uses the same firm that he is a beneficiary of to pay for services related to his campaign. The concerning questions are; is Mr Lawler engaging in laundering money form his campaign to his firm then into his own pocket?" Newsweek has not as yet been able to verify Santos' claims.

Speaking to Newsweek Nate Soule, a spokesperson for Lawler, denied any wrongdoing on the congressman's part. He said: "Being attacked by a serial liar and con man like George Santos is a badge of honor. His bogus allegations against Congressman Lawler mirror ones made by Democrats over a year ago that were rebutted in a City & State story.

"As he was embarking on his run for Congress, Mr. Lawler and Checkmate Strategies reached out to the FEC (Federal Election Commission) through their attorneys at Squire, Patton, and Boggs LLC to ensure 100% compliance with the law.

"After receiving a favorable response, Mr. Lawler then went above and beyond, instructing the firm's accountants to firewall him from any profits resulting from his campaign."

Santos went on to question whether LaLota "obtained his JD [Juris Doctor] attending Hofstra [University in New York] in day school while he was supposed to be working at the Board of elections at the same time."

Santos asked: "Did Rep Lalota no-show to his tax pay funded job while going to school and if so he can potential have stolen public funds form the tax payers of NY?"

Finally, Santos questioned what Rep. Menendez knew about the business dealings of his father, who is facing felony charges over allegations he accepted bribes to advance the interests of the Egyptian government, which the senator strongly denies.

In his X post, Santos wrote: "While congressman Mene[n]dez has not been invoked by the diligent investigation of the DOJ [Department of Justice] into his father, there remains a question of what did he know and when did he know it, the complaint is to seek clarification from the freshman congressman on his involvement with his father's overseas dealing over the years and any potential compensation he received."

Santos was elected to represent New York's third congressional district in November 2022, but shortly afterwards it emerged much of his resume and back story had been invented. These included his false claims that he graduated from Baruch College, worked for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, and lost four employees in the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida.

Santos has pled not guilty to 23 federal fraud charges including wire fraud, theft of public money and giving false statements related to his 2022 run for office. FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge James Smith said the congressman "allegedly led multiple additional fraudulent criminal schemes, lying to the American public in the process." The case has yet to go to trial.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has said she will announce the date for the special election to fill Santos's old seat in the next few days, with the vote expected to take place in late February or early March.

Update 12/4/23 7:12 a.m. ET: This story has been updated with comment from the office of Rep. Lawler.