Nov 2, 2023
Jamie Raskin Reveals George Santos Expulsion Vote BOMBSHELL
Notorious Republican fraud George Santos survives his expulsion vote from Congress, led by fellow New York Republicans, after unexpected aid from Jamie Raskin and thirty-one other Democrats. Francesca Fiorentini and Rayyvana break it down on The Damage Report.
- 6 minutes
I must warn my colleagues that voting for
exposure at this point,
would circumvent the judicial system's
right to due process that I'm entitled to.
And desanctify the long-held
premise that one is presumed
innocent until proven guilty.
[00:00:16]
>> Speaker 2: Representative George Santos
took the glasses off for
this one and said, basically, due process,
which actually was an argument that might
have worked on his fellow Congress people.
Because George Santos survived
a vote to expel him from Congress,
[00:00:32]
that's right, Santos is in.
It was an expulsion resolution that
was led by fellow New York Republicans
of all people,
saying that Santos is not fit to serve.
And it needed a supermajority or at least
two thirds of voting lawmakers, and
[00:00:48]
it did not pass the final tally,
didn't even crest a majority threshold.
Was 179 voting in favor of expulsion,
213 against, 19 voting present.
Thirty one Democrats voted with
182 Republicans against expulsion,
while 24 Republicans voted with
155 Democrats to remove Santos.
[00:01:07]
Kind of split there on Democrats,
which I think is pretty fascinating.
Here's another freshman
Representative Anthony D'Esposito,
who is Republican from New York, and
this is why he authored this
resolution for expulsion.
[00:01:26]
>> Speaker 3: I first wanna point out
that constitutional due process doesn't
apply here.
We have the facts, they've been
outlined over the last 10 months, and
the facts are, that Mr. Santos actually
admitted to those lies and deceptions.
[00:01:44]
He references the concern of this body,
and the fact that we quote,
may be losing trust.
I wanna let everyone in
on a stark reminder.
Coming from New York, New Yorkers
don't agree on much of anything,
[00:02:03]
but 78% of the individuals who live
in the 3rd Congressional District
do not want George Santos
as their representative.
>> Speaker 4: Hmm interesting,
however, Republicans might need
[00:02:20]
George Santos as their
representative because it means they
will be able to maintain their
very slim majority in Congress.
That might not be the reason
why they're openly claiming.
Newly minted Speaker Mike Johnson
expressed concerns on Fox News that
[00:02:39]
the GOP's he is admitting it, minuscule
four-seat majority could be further eroded
with Santos's expulsion and that the
New York fabulous deserved due process.
First of all, George Santos would
absolutely love that characterization
NBC News, but I don't know he's going to
put that in his LinkedIn bio right now.
[00:02:58]
So this is part of the reason other
Republicans said that they want to first
see how the House Ethics Committee handles
its case before they decide Santos's fate.
The bipartisan panel said Tuesday
it's gonna announce next steps in its
investigation by November 17th.
The committee has contacted
roughly 40 witnesses,
[00:03:14]
reviewed more than 170,000 pages of
documents, and authorized 37 subpoenas.
I mean, they know what good
content George Santos is,
they're not trying to expel him
before we get to the bottom of this.
But interestingly Ray, the person who
[00:03:32]
representing I believe 31 Democrats
who did vote with Republicans to not
expel him, Jamie Raskin said this.
He said, Santos has not been
criminally convicted yet
[00:03:49]
of the offenses cited in the resolution,
nor
has he been found guilty of ethics
offenses in the House internal process.
This would be a terrible precedent to set,
expelling people have not been convicted
of a crime and
without internal due process.
If and when Santos is convicted of
these serious criminal offenses or
[00:04:05]
ethics charges,
I will certainly vote to expel.
That I think is really important,
I hate when Democrats say they don't
wanna do things cuz they're afraid
of what the other side will do.
I.e., not get rid of the filibuster,
which, of course,
[00:04:22]
Kyrsten Sinema just says
cuz she likes power.
But in this case,
I might agree with Jamie Raskin.
I would have probably voted
against expelling him without
just seeing the Ethics Committee
investigation to its conclusion.
>> Speaker 4: So
I totally agree with you, but
[00:04:38]
I wanna say anyone who knows me knows
that I absolutely love George Santos.
>> Speaker 4: [LAUGH].
>> He's my favorite person to have
ever been born, and I'm obsessed with him,
and I hope that someday
he will listen to my pleas to adult adopt
me, preferably before he ends up in jail.
That being said, I totally agree
with what Jamie Raskin is saying,
[00:04:56]
but I also think that
there's a political front and
a political reasoning behind voting
not to expel him from Congress.
And that is, that it gives a Republican
time to establish themselves as
the front runner to replace him, right?
[00:05:13]
And that is an issue because
this is a very vulnerable
district the Democrats
could easily take back.
And if they're forced
to have George Santos,
who's gonna continue to run, right?
He's gonna run for re-election,
[LAUGH] he is the most delusional person
ever to walk the earth,
he probably thinks he can win re-election.
[00:05:32]
And it's better for the Democratic Party
if they're running a candidate against
him, and then potentially another
Republican who's running against him,
versus not having him in the race.
I think that maybe there is political
consideration going into that as well.
[00:05:48]
Also, on the Republican side of things, of
course, there's a political consideration.
They have a very slim majority, and
they need him to do votes, they do,
they need him to do votes.
>> Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.
I would have said this to you before,
but if George Santos does adopt you,
[00:06:05]
he will ruin your line of credit like any
usually negligent parent does [LAUGH].
The guy's not done,
you know what I'm saying?
>> Right.
>> Speaker 2: In or out of office,
he's continuing the grift for
a very long time.
I think we need
George Santo's predictions,
[00:06:21]
like what does he go
when he leaves Congress?
Cuz he's gonna leave
Congress at some point.
What will he do?
I call a return to drag,
I think it is time.
>> I agree, and I hope that when he does
go to jail, they give him a phone so that
we can continue to get his unmitigated
thoughts on every topic [LAUGH].
[00:06:40]
>> Speaker 2: He's gonna
have a Substack at least.
[MUSIC]
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The Damage Report: November 2, 2023
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