周三晚上，共和党领导的驱逐陷入困境的众议员乔治·桑托斯的决议在众议院失败。
试图驱逐桑托斯的努力来自纽约代表团的共和党议员，他们认为他过去的谎言和对他个人历史的美化以及他的各种法律纠纷使他不适合担任公职。在受到一系列联邦指控后，桑托斯坚称自己是无辜的。
众议员安东尼·德·埃斯波西托(Anthony D'Esposito)周四正式提交了驱逐决议，这迫使众议院迅速就桑托斯可能的免职采取行动。德埃斯波西托加入了众议员迈克劳勒，尼克拉洛塔，马克莫里纳罗和布兰登威廉姆斯。
这项决议需要三分之二的多数票才能通过，但是远远不够。最终投票结果是179票对213票，有19名成员出席投票。
投票前，桑托斯在众议院为自己辩护，称他的同事“优先考虑琐碎的政治”
桑托斯说:“无罪推定的丧失开创了一个危险的先例，威胁到我们法律体系的基础，我们有可能失去美国人民对我们的信任，因为我们未经正当程序就做出了判决。”“如果我们齐心协力，我们就能保护我们制度的完整性和所有公民的权利。”
“议长先生，我正竭尽全力在全世界面前为自己正名。这并不容易，但我在上帝的恩典下战斗，”他补充道。
D'Esposito周三向同事发送了一封该组织的信，敦促他们支持迫使桑托斯下台的决议。
他们写道:“我们强烈敦促你们投票赞成这项决议，并鼓励你们联系我们中的任何一个人，如果你们对将乔治·桑托斯驱逐出这个机构有任何疑问的话。”
美国历史上只有五名议员被逐出众议院。上一次驱逐发生在2002年，当时俄亥俄州民主党人詹姆斯·特拉菲坎特因被判犯有10项敲诈勒索、贿赂和欺诈重罪而被撤职。
桑托斯尚未被定罪，但被控23项罪名，检察官指控他窃取他人身份，用他的竞选捐款人的信用卡进行指控，并向联邦选举官员撒谎。
这位国会议员上周不认罪，并一再表示他不会下台。他的审判定于2024年。
“我坚信我能证明自己的清白，”他上个月告诉记者。
共和党人经常指望代表长岛摇摆区的桑托斯帮助众议院通过立法，因为该党占一位数的多数。新当选的议长迈克·约翰逊表示担心驱逐他可能会危及这一点。
这不是桑托斯第一次受到驱逐投票的威胁。
今年5月，当第一批指控针对桑托斯时，民主党人试图迫使众议院考虑驱逐决议。共和党人避免了那次投票，而是选择将此事提交给众议院道德委员会，该委员会周一发布了一份罕见的声明，称他们将在11月17日或之前宣布对桑托斯调查的下一步措施。
该委员会的调查小组委员会一直在审查涉及桑托斯的指控，称“已经联系了40名证人，审查了超过17万页的文件，并批准了37张传票。”
桑托斯表示，他打算与该委员会合作。
Republican-led push to expel George Santos fails in the House
A Republican-led resolution to expel embattled Rep. George Santos failed in the House on Wednesday night.
The push to try to oust Santos came from fellow GOP lawmakers in the New York delegation, who argue his past lies and embellishments about his personal history and his various legal entanglements make him unfit for office. Santos maintains his innocence after being indicted on a slew of federal charges.
Rep. Anthony D'Esposito on Thursday formally filed the expulsion resolution as privileged -- which forced the House to move quickly on Santos' possible removal. D'Esposito was joined by Reps. Mike Lawler, Nick LaLota, Marc Molinaro and Brandon Williams.
The resolution needed a two-thirds majority to succeed, but fell well short. The final vote was 179 to 213 with 19 members voting present.
Santos defended himself on the House floor ahead of the vote, saying his colleagues were "prioritizing petty politics."
"The loss of the presumption of innocence establishes a dangerous precedent that threatens the very foundation of our legal system, and we risk losing the trust that the American people placed in us by passing judgement without due process," Santos said. "If we work together, we can protect the integrity of our system and the rights of all citizens."
"I'm fighting tooth and nail to clear my name in front of the entire world, Mr. Speaker. It hasn't been easy, but I'm fighting by God's grace," he added.
D'Esposito sent a letter from the group to colleagues on Wednesday urging them to back the resolution to force Santos out.
"We strongly urge you to vote in favor of this resolution and encourage you to contact any one of us should you have any doubts about expelling George Santos from this body," they wrote.
Rep. George Santos speaks to reporters outside the U.S. Capitol before the House votes on his explosion resolution, on Nov. 1, 2023, in Washington, DC.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Only five members in U.S. history have been expelled from the House. The last time an expulsion occurred was in 2002, when Ohio Democrat James Traficant was removed after being convicted of 10 felony counts of racketeering, bribery and fraud.
Santos hasn't been convicted but is charged with 23 counts as prosecutors allege he stole people's identities, made charges on his campaign donors' credit cards and lied to federal election officials.
The congressman pleaded not guilty last week and has repeatedly said he won't step down. His trial is set for 2024.
"I'm strong in my convictions that I can prove my innocence," he told reporters last month.
Republicans often count on Santos, who represents a swing district on Long Island, to help pass legislation in the House because of the party's single-digit majority. Newly-elected Speaker Mike Johnson has signaled concern that expelling him could endanger that.
It wasn't the first time that Santos has been threatened with an expulsion vote.
Democrats tried to force the House to consider an expulsion resolution back in May, when the first set of charges came down against Santos. Republicans avoided that vote, instead choosing to refer the matter to the House Ethics Committee -- which released a rare statement Monday saying they'll announce next steps for their Santos investigation on or before Nov. 17.
The committee's investigative subcommittee, which has been reviewing allegations involving Santos, said it "has contacted 40 witnesses, reviewed more than 170,000 pages of documents and authorized 37 subpoenas."
Santos has said he intended to cooperate with the committee.
