Uh oh. Ethics panel expands investigation into Santos

While he doesn’t receive nearly as much media attention these days as chaos consumes the nation and the world, the saga of embattled Republican Congressman George Santos is still chugging along in the background. Ever since his court appearance where he pleaded not guilty on a variety of charges, it seemed as if the story would remain on hold until his trial. But in an unusual twist, it turns out that the House Ethics Committee has not only continued its investigation into the many allegations against Santos but expanded them. It was revealed this weekend that the panel has issued dozens of subpoenas in his case, along with other requests for information and testimony from people familiar with his activities. (NBC News)

The Republican-led House Ethics Committee said Thursday that it has issued dozens of subpoenas and requests for information in connection with its investigation of Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., who was indicted last month on 13 counts, including making materially false statements to the House.

In a statement, the committee, which has been investigating Santos since early March, said that it was “actively working to resolve this matter in an expeditious timeframe” and that it had issued over 30 subpoenas and more than 40 voluntary requests for information. It did not say who had been subpoenaed, nor did it provide any information on the nature of the subpoenas, citing House and Committee rules on the confidentiality of its work.

This is an unusual move for the Ethics Committee. Typically, when the Justice Department opens up a criminal investigation into a member, the committee will place its own investigation on hold. But in a statement released by the panel, they said that the investigation into Santos will continue, but they are working with the DOJ to “mitigate the potential risks” of dual investigations. And things could indeed become complicated if someone who has already been subpoenaed in a criminal investigation was called upon to provide testimony to Congress, particularly if there wind up being any contradictions between the two sets of statements.

In some way, these developments may work to the benefit of the House Republicans, or at least mitigate some of the potential damage. George Santos has obviously become a huge embarrassment to the GOP and a piece of political baggage they didn’t need. Democrats have already been making the rounds and asking why they should take the House Republicans’ demands for greater transparency and accountability seriously when they have such a known liar and (probably) felon in their caucus. And if we’re being honest, that’s a fair question.

But at the same time, the House GOP has almost no margin of error as they try to advance as much of their agenda as possible and Santos is one vote they could ill afford to lose at the moment. By continuing the work of the Ethics Committee, they can at least say that they are working on the problem and trying to hold Santos accountable. The same goes for keeping Santos off of any committees. They are giving him the least responsibility and influence possible while still pocketing his vote. They may wind up being able to maintain this balancing act all the way until his criminal trial concludes.

As a bonus, if they keep this up long enough, they can drag out the Santos affair to the point where a special election will not be called for his seat. If he’s removed at that point, the GOP will still lose a vote, but they won’t give a bonus vote to the Democrats should they flip the seat back to the blue side. It’s not an ideal solution, but there were certainly worse options on the table. Now they just need to post some security guards around the House cloakroom to make sure Santos isn’t stealing people’s coats or umbrellas.