'He’s Not Fit To Serve': GOP House Lawmaker Roasts George Santos As 'Stain On Our State'

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Rep. Anthony D'Esposito (R-NY) slams Rep. George Santos (R-NY) and calls for him to leave the House.

Transcript

00:00 Are you going to offer a resolution to expel George Santos?

00:03 Yeah, that's the plan.

00:04 We're going to, we plan on filing the resolution this afternoon.

00:08 It's been co-sponsored by all the New York freshmen.

00:11 We just feel that enough's enough.

00:13 Obviously a couple months back, the suggestion was made because there wasn't a two-thirds

00:18 vote in order to remove him from the House of Representatives to send it to ethics.

00:22 I know that ethics has been a little busy, but you know, it's time that we see some results

00:28 and after the latest indictment, I think it's clear that he's not fit to serve in the House

00:34 of Representatives.

00:35 He's a stain on the institution and that's why the New York freshmen have come together.

00:40 He's also a stain on our state.

00:41 Have you gotten any commitments from either Jordan or Scalise to put this on the floor?

00:45 None whatsoever.

00:46 We're acting alone right now.

00:47 We think it's the right thing to do for our constituents, for Long Island and for New

00:50 York State.

00:51 It's time that we move on from George Santos.

00:53 What do you make of that though, that leadership is not calling on him to resign?

00:57 I think the election of Speaker is defined by a few other things.

01:01 This is a big priority to us and we'll see how the folks running for Speaker react to

01:04 what we just did.

01:05 How's the vote on the motion to table the rule going in there?

01:08 You can ask that question to somebody else.

01:10 Let's talk about George Santos.

01:11 With George Santos, do you expect to call something to expel him from the conference

01:15 or are you just looking to get-

01:16 Oh no, this is a resolution to remove him from the House of Representatives.

01:18 He has no business being in the halls of the House of Representatives.

01:22 He's an immoral person.

01:23 He's an untrustworthy person.

01:25 He's scammed hundreds of thousands of voters, hundreds of donors.

01:29 He's stolen millions of dollars.

01:31 This is the most provable case of election fraud that we have before us.

01:35 He is a fraudster.

01:36 He defrauded Long Island voters.

01:37 He should be out of Congress right away.

01:40 Yesterday Mr. Jordan said that he would not call on him to resign.

01:45 Mr. Jordan yesterday said that he would not call on him to resign.

01:47 It's up to him, it's up to his district.

01:49 Does that disappoint you that that's the position of the potential Speaker of the House here?

01:53 We need two-thirds of the House to vote in favor of his expulsion.

01:56 He has one vote.

01:57 We'll see how everybody else thinks.

01:58 We haven't had any conversations with anyone else with the exception of the New York president.

02:01 You can issue this as a privilege resolution?

02:03 I don't think we're there yet.

02:04 I think that we're going to have an overwhelming majority and perhaps two-thirds of the House

02:08 to quite quickly support this.

02:10 It may not require privilege.

02:12 If he runs for re-election, what does that do for people like you?

02:14 He's not running for re-election.

02:15 He's not running for re-election.

02:16 The Nassau County Republican Committee will make sure he's not on the ballot in November.

02:19 What about removing him from conference before the vote for Speaker?

02:24 Right now we're focused on removing him from Congress.

02:26 But do you think he should have a vote for Speaker?

02:28 Because currently he does.

02:30 We don't think he should have a vote in Congress, so we probably shouldn't have one in Congress.

02:33 The sooner he's gone, the better.

02:34 If that, if what happens first, Congress or conference, may be an issue we discuss.

02:39 So when there is a new Speaker of the House, is your plan to go directly to leadership

02:44 and call for them to back this?

02:46 I mean, you're sitting here saying that he's not the best representation of the Republican

02:49 Party.

02:50 We haven't heard that from Republican leadership right now.

02:52 I predict this resolution is going to catch fire.

02:54 Many people feel how we do and what my colleague Mr. Diaz-Bazito said, he is a stain on this

02:59 institution.

03:00 Many people feel how we do and we're eager to see everybody respond.

03:03 Are you making it a requirement for a vote for a new Speaker?

03:06 No, and like I said, I don't think that needs to be forced.

03:08 I think this is going to be organic and a lot of folks I feel from both sides of the

03:12 aisle will support the removal of George Santos from these halls.

03:15 He denied all these charges.

03:16 He says that, you know, these, none of these are true.

03:19 He says he's going to fight it in court.

03:20 Does he not deserve his day in court?

03:22 He does not.

03:23 I think there are two separate requirements, two separate standards.

03:26 What he is known to be guilty of with beyond any doubt, not just a reasonable doubt, is

03:32 that he lied about his entire background.

03:35 That to me and how he defrauded voters, Long Island voters, should disqualify him from

03:40 holding this office.

03:41 Do you regret not voting to expel him when it was offered earlier this year?

03:45 I think there's some amount of process that folks who are accused of these things should

03:50 be afforded.

03:51 However, that amount of process is now behind us.

03:53 It's time to move on from George Santos.

03:54 To Mr. LaLota's point, the vote last time was whipped and there was not going to be

03:59 two-thirds of a House vote.

04:01 And that's why, this is not an up and down vote, this is a two-thirds vote, and that's

04:04 why we chose to move it to ethics.

04:06 Why do you think it's going to catch fire so quickly when it hasn't so far?

04:10 Did you see the additional, what is it, dozen indictments yesterday?

04:14 Do you think that's a breaking point when the previous indictment wasn't?

04:17 His treasurer confessed to participating in a fraud with Mr. Santos.

04:23 That is a new criteria upon which I think my colleagues can rely and get them to the

04:28 point that they can support this resolution.

04:29 We've got to get back to you.

04:31 Have you guys decided who you're going to vote for yet for Speaker?

04:34 I haven't said so.

04:35 Not George Santos though?

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