With his speakership honeymoon fading fast, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is facing the reality of his uber thin majority as he navigates how to pass foreign aid to Ukraine and Israel before the holiday break and the bigger, two-tiered shutdown threat he created heading into the new year. His apprehension about ousting one of his own is tangible — especially someone like Rep. George Santos (R-NY).
Santos supported ousted-House Speaker Kevin (R-CA), mostly voted with leadership during McCarthy’s tenure (though he doesn’t like Steve Scalise for some reason) and joined the rest of his colleagues in voting for Johnson’s speakership. He was among the 93 Republicans who refused to help Johnson pass his two-step CR earlier this month, but Santos hasn’t said much of substance about his rationale for the relatively safe act of rebellion. That’s probably because he has bigger concerns as he faces potential prison time and/or expulsion.
Before the Thanksgiving break, Johnson was adamant that Santos deserved his day in court and even said the quiet part out loud in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity last month: His hesitancy is rooted in House Republicans’ tiny majority.
Johnson has been relatively tight-lipped about the matter since the House Ethics Committee issued its stunning report on the congressman’s alleged fraud schemes, and since Republican panel chairman Rep. Michael Guest (R-MS) introduced an expulsion resolution before the recess.
The House is expected to vote on the matter this week. In a rant on Twitter Spaces Friday, Santos declared himself the Republican “It Girl”and said he has no plans to resign, but acknowledged he does expect to be expelled.
“I know I’m going to get expelled when this expulsion resolution goes to the floor,” he said. “I’ve done the math over and over, and it doesn’t look really good.”
The House Speaker appeared less convinced of Santos’ impending downfall Monday.
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