House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) called the expulsion of Rep. George Santos (R-NY) a "regrettable day" during an interview on Fox News on Saturday.

Santos was expelled Friday after a 311-114 vote, surpassing the required two-thirds majority. Two representatives voted present, and 105 Republicans voted to oust their colleague. Johnson voted against the move, citing concern over precedent. He expressed his sadness that the measure was taken a day after.

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“We couldn’t block it,” Johnson said in an interview with Fox News. “It was a privileged resolution, which means it has to come to the floor within two days of filing, and it was a regrettable day. Prior to yesterday, only five people had ever been expelled from Congress. Three were Confederates, two were convicted of federal charges. And George Santos has not been convicted in a court.”

Johnson explained the passionate feelings over the vote after a House Ethics report accused the freshman Republican of exploiting his position for financial gain.

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“There were some members on the other side making a rule of law argument in favor of expelling because they said what was different about Santos is he was alleged to have committed crimes against the institution itself and that’s why they felt that this made this a different thing,” Johnson continued. “We’ve had very impassioned views of that, and we’ve let our views be made known to the members, but we’ve allowed them to do what they did.”

As Santos goes on a revenge tour over X, formerly known as Twitter, the expelled Republican's staff has started to look to the future. His top aide, Vish Burra, told the Washington Examiner's Reese Gorman that he's “fielding many calls” about the prospect of running for his former boss's seat.