Just as the Ethics Committee gets ready to release it’s report and recommendations on George Santos, a second aide, Sam Miele, has pleaded guilty to financial crimes. The Ethics Committee report will be ready by Friday. Olivia Beavers reported that “If it’s damning, as many expect, New York Republicans who have called for his removal are likely to move quickly against him. Their previous effort fell short of the necessary two-thirds vote, as other Republicans argued against setting the precedent of expelling a member without a conviction. His trial on federal charges isn’t set to begin for nearly a year. Plus, there’s the ever-present problem of the House GOP’s slim majority. But some members who protected Santos last time have indicated that a convincing ethics report would change their minds.”
Still, it’s unclear whether a scathing ethics report would be enough to meet the high bar— it would take roughly 80 Republicans siding with all Democrats— for expulsion. Speaker Mike Johnson himself has broadly signaled that he doesn’t want to get ahead of Santos’ trial. Plus, the new speaker and some other Republicans are loath to further narrow their majority, given their exceedingly slim margins and a slew of tough spending votes in the months ahead.
But Santos’ critics remain confident.
“He’ll be out,” said Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), who had previously voted for his ouster. “If he is found guilty by Ethics, he’s gone.”
Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY) earlier this month pushed a Santos expulsion resolution, the second effort after a Democratic-led attempt earlier this year. Only 24 Republicans supported D’Esposito’s measure, as well as 155 Democrats.
During that push, the Ethics Committee made an unusual disclosure, saying they would announce their next steps against Santos on or before this Friday. They shared that the panel had issued 37 subpoenas, combed through more than 170,000 pages of records and reached out to about 40 witnesses as part of the ongoing probe. That was triggered in early March, after a series of news reports raised concerns that there was “unlawful activity” in his bid for office.
…Since the internal review began, Santos has faced nearly two dozen charges, including bribery, wire fraud and identity theft. And when he faced a superseding indictment last month that increased his charge count from 13 to 23, Santos continued to maintain his innocence to reporters, vowing he will not resign or pursue a plea bargain. Santos has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He’s also signaled that he’s launching another bid for the seat.
Santos’ trial is scheduled to begin right before the 2024 elections. Miele, reported Grace Ashford “pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in connection with a fund-raising scheme in which he impersonated a House staffer for his and Mr. Santos’ benefit.” Pleading to just one count is a sure indication he cut a deal with the prosecutors to testify against Santos and that his testimony is substantial— like “he told metro do it.” As Ashord noted, “the most intriguing detail to emerge from court was an incident that Miele was not charged with, but admitted to as part of his guilty plea. Between November 2020 and January 2023, Miele used his position with the Santos campaign to charge donors’ credit cards without their permission— hundreds of thousands of dollars in all, he told the judge. Prosecutors have accused Santos, 35, of a similar scheme. They said he repeatedly debited donors’ credit cards without their authorization, distributing the money to his and other candidates’ campaigns as well as his own bank account.”
Miele admitted in one instance to having charged a total of $470,000 to the credit card of an older man that he used to make donations to political candidates and for personal expenses. It is not clear in whose name those donations were made.
…Like Marks, Miele was a member of Santos’s inner circle, involved not only in his congressional campaign but also his personal business ventures.
…Dressed in a too-large navy suit coat, with black hair slicked back, Miele stood to read from a prepared statement.
“Between August and December 2021, I pretended I was chief of staff to the then leader of the House of Representatives,” he said. “I did that to help raise funds for the campaign I was working on.”
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