‘YOU’RE A CROOK’: House Floor Devolves Into CHAOS As GOP Reps. Trade Insults

The U.S. House of Representatives witnessed a heated exchange on Thursday, leading to a highly charged atmosphere. Representative Max Miller (R-OH) openly accused his colleague, George Santos (R-NY), of being a “crook”

Earlier this month, the House Committee on Ethics published a comprehensive 56-page report outlining the charges against Santos.

Santos sought to have Miller’s words stricken from the record, however. “My colleague wants to come up here, call me a crook,” Santos started. “[The] same colleague who’s accused of being a woman beater.”

The report concluded that Santos had prioritized his personal interests over ethical obligations as a public servant. The investigation indicated significant evidence of illegal activities, leading Santos to anticipate the possibility of being removed from Congress for some time now.

Adding to the intensity, Representative Marc Molinaro (R-NY) criticized Santos for being “divorced from reality” and engaging in deceitful behavior that misled voters and exploited election laws for personal gain.

“He has manufactured his entire life to defraud the voters of his district and honest choice for a member of Congress,” Molinaro said. He has lied to donors and to colleagues, taking advantage of election law, using campaign funds to personally benefit himself and he has defamed not only his office but the institution itself.”

“He has lost the right to serve in this House and I will vote to expel him.”

Around 90 House Republicans have been set to support the expulsion of Santos from Congress this week according to internal reports. Santos, in a defiant address on Tuesday, questioned the validity of the expulsion process.

“In history, five members of Congress have been expelled,” Santos stated. “All five had suffered convictions in a court.”

“All five had due process. This expulsion vote simply undermines and underscores the precedent that we’ve had in this chamber. It starts and puts us in a new direction, a dangerous one that sets a very dangerous precedent for the future.”

This follows Santos’ first federal indictment in May 2023, where he maintained his innocence against all charges. Santos’s concerns resonate with some Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who had also voiced his reservations about the expulsion.

“I said that the Republican Party is the rule of law team, and we are,” said the House Speaker. “We believe in the rule of law. There are people of good faith who make an argument both pro and con for the expulsion resolution for Santos.”

“I personally have real reservations about doing this. I’m concerned about a precedent that may be set for that,” Johnson said.

The U.S. House of Representatives has expelled members five times in its history. These expulsions were due to serious offenses and are as follows:

• John B. Clark (Missouri) and John W. Reid (Missouri), 1861: Both were expelled for taking up arms against the Union during the Civil War.
• Henry C. Burnett (Kentucky), 1861: Similarly, Burnett was expelled for supporting the Confederacy during the Civil War.
• Michael Myers (Pennsylvania), 1980: Myers was expelled after being convicted of bribery, conspiracy, and travel act violations in the Abscam scandal, a high-profile FBI sting operation that targeted political corruption.
• James Traficant (Ohio), 2002: Traficant was expelled after being convicted on charges of bribery, racketeering, and tax evasion. He was only the second member to be expelled since the Civil War.