Lauren Boebert Wants Democrat Expelled After George Santos Ousted

Representative Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican, seemingly wants Representative Jamaal Bowman, a New York Democrat, expelled from the House after George Santos was ousted from Congress on Friday.

With Santos, a New York Republican, facing a 23-count federal indictment and following the release of a scathing House Ethics Committee report, the legislative chamber voted 311 to 114 to expel the freshman representative. Nearly all Democrats and 105 Republicans backed the successful effort, making Santos only the sixth in United States history to be expelled from the House. Meanwhile, Bowman, who has represented New York's 16th District since 2021, pled guilty in October to a misdemeanor for falsely activating a fire alarm at the Cannon building in Washington, D.C., as lawmakers were working to vote on a government funding bill to avert a partial shutdown in September.

A spokesperson for Bowman's office said that the congressman reached an agreement with prosecutors to pay a $1,000 fine and write a formal apology letter to U.S. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger in exchange for the dropping of all charges.

While speaking with the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF) in an article published on Saturday, Boebert affirmed her belief that Bowman should be expelled by noting that while Bowman was convicted of a crime, Santos has not been.

"He's been convicted of a crime. George Santos wasn't. He's pled guilty to a crime. George Santos has not been convicted of anything. This is a terrible precedent, a shameful precedent was just set," the congresswoman said.

Newsweek has reached out to Boebert and Bowman via email for comment.

Santos has been accused of fabricating many of the details of his life, in addition to defrauding campaign donors and misusing campaign funds. The now-former congressman has lied about his work history, what schools he attended, his ancestry and the details about how his mother died. Although Santos has said he "exaggerated" some of his backstory, he maintains his innocence. He also has doubled down on many of his fabrications, suggesting that his statements have been misrepresented in the media.

In addition, Boebert took to X, formerly Twitter, on Friday to share her disapproval of Santos' removal from the House, "In America, the presumption of innocence ensures that any citizen accused of any crime is considered innocent until proven guilty. George Santos has not been convicted of any crime. Until today's vote, only five members of the House of Representatives had ever been expelled. Three were expelled for supporting the Confederacy during the Civil War and the two others were expelled after criminal convictions."

She continued: "Expelling an elected official without due process is an extreme measure and sets a dangerous precedent that I could not support. George Santos was elected by New York's Third Congressional District voters and until the day he is actually convicted of a crime, it should have been up to those voters whether or not he remained in Congress."

Meanwhile, Bowman has faced criticism and calls for removal from the House from several Republicans.

"It's not just pulling any fire alarm. It's pulling a fire alarm in the middle of a proceeding," GOP Representative Nicole Malliotakis of New York said in an interview with Politico in October. "He was a high school principal. If anyone knows the old trick of pulling a fire alarm, it's a high school principal. [Bowman was the principal of a middle school]."

However, appearing on Fox News in October, legal analyst Jonathan Turley discussed comments from Malliotakis, who claimed to have 12 co-sponsors for a bill to expel Bowman, saying at the time that the congressman's actions were likely not grounds for such an action and warned that going through with it could be a slippery slope.

"It most certainly can be charged as a misdemeanor, a criminal misdemeanor," Turley said. "Now, does that mean that it's grounds for expulsion? I don't think so. If you start to do this, you're going to find a lot of folks are pushing for the expulsion of others. The fact that over hundreds of years, we've only expelled five members should tell you something. They always had that power, but I think both sides recognize that down this road lies madness. If we start to expel members, it's going to become an insatiable appetite."