If you only went by the initial headlines – “George Santos Will Not Face Punishment from House Ethics Committee After Monthslong Investigation,” People magazine declared – you might think that the House Ethics Committee was letting George Santos off the hook. In fact, the panel did the opposite, issuing a scathing and damning report that declared, “Representative Santos sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal financial profit. He blatantly stole from his campaign… He used his connections to high value donors and other political campaigns to obtain additional funds for himself through fraudulent or otherwise questionable business dealings. And he sustained all of this through a constant series of lies to his constituents, donors, and staff about his background and experience.”

Your mileage may vary, but I read the subtext as, “formal punishment by us would be moot, since this guy’s going to jail soon.” Yes, everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocence in a court of law, but when a lawmaker is proven to be a shameless, notorious and perhaps even pathological liar, the public and other lawmakers are no longer required to give him the benefit of the doubt on accusations of fraud.

Santos announced he will not seek another term, although he also insists, “if there was a single ounce of ETHICS in the “Ethics committee”, they would have not released this biased report… It is a disgusting politicized smear that shows the depths of how low our federal government has sunk. Everyone who participated in this grave miscarriage of Justice should all be ashamed of themselves.”

Yes, George Santos argues that his critics should be ashamed. It’s always everyone else’s fault except his.

Apparently the Ethics Committee report is adding new fuel to another effort to expel Santos from the House. It would require a two-thirds majority to dismiss Santos. While House Republicans would have a slightly smaller majority until a special election is held, I think it’s worth it to be rid of the perpetual embarrassment of Santos. Running a GOP House majority with 220 Republicans and three vacancies is only a smidgen more difficult than the current circumstance of 221 Republicans and two vacancies.