George Santos Must Resign - Or be Expelled

This newspaper, The North Shore Leader, was the first newspaper to break the story, last September, about the depth and breath of fraud by now-Congressman George Santos.

The sheer volume of the lies and frauds committed by Santos strains belief. We just elected a con-man - dubbed a "Fabulist - a Fake" by this newspaper, and "George Scam-tos" by our sources. He is a sociopath - and no one in Congress or New York will work with him.

Now Long Island's political leadership - stung by the betrayals of Santos - are now all calling for Santos' resignation, or removal.

Nassau Republican Chairman Joseph Cairo - leading a press conference of nearly every senior official in Nassau County - demanded this week that Santos resign. He declared Santos "persona non grata," and promised to eject him from any Nassau Republican event, should the uninvited Santos show-up. Cairo was backed by every Republican official in the county.

And the Democrats have been leading protest rallies for weeks, demanding Santos resign.

The current situation is an outrage - Santos needs to resign, or be expelled. But Santos mockingly said he's "NOT resigning."

The US Constitution provides that a 2/3 vote by the House cab expel a member. In the current Congress, that means that about 1/3 of the Republicans would need to join the Democrats, to oust Santos. And that's going to be a very attainable number.

After the Nassau GOP press conference - followed quickly by the Suffolk GOP and the NYS State GOP Chairman, Congressman Nick Langworthy endorsing Cairo's calls for Santos to resign - the odds of Santos being expelled just got a lot stronger.

The initial reaction of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has been to give Santos "the benefit of the doubt," and "wait and see." That is a mistake.

Critics claim that because Democrats - like President Joe Biden, and US Senators Richard Blumenthal and Elizabeth Warren - all lie, we should welcome in - or excuse - a pathological liar like Santos. But the answer to Biden's lies is NOT to more Republican liars. It is to clear house, and demand the Democrats do the same. No Republican congressman can plausibly challenge Biden's lies on the border, or the corruption of the DOJ or FBI, while a fraudster like Santos sits in Congress.

Expelling a member is hard - but hardly unheard of. So far, the US House has expelled 20 members, most recently James Traficant, a Democrat of Ohio, in 2002. Let's get on with it.