As members of the Home of Representatives debated the expulsion of Rep. George Santos (R-NY) on Thursday, Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) stood and leveled a blockbuster allegation.
“I personally have been a sufferer of George Santos,” Miller declared, earlier than turning to face Santos and including, “You sir, are a criminal.”
Miller elaborated on his declare in an e-mail to colleagues shortly earlier than the expulsion vote on Friday. TPM obtained a replica of the e-mail, which was previously reported by Punchbowl. In it, Miller defined the “private influence” Santos had on him.
“Earlier this yr, I discovered that the Santos marketing campaign had charged my private bank card — and the cardboard of my Mom — for contribution quantities that exceeded FEC limits. Neither my Mom nor I accepted these fees or had been conscious of them,” Miller wrote.
Miller went on to assert he had “seen an inventory of roughly 400 different individuals to whom the Santos marketing campaign allegedly did this.”
TPM printed the primary report in January on indications the Santos marketing campaign improperly charged donors’ bank cards. In October, Santos was indicted by federal prosecutors on fees of bank card fraud and identification theft for an alleged “scheme” to bilk donors. Miller’s e-mail is the primary indication of the total scope of the alleged fraud.
Within the wake of a damning Ethics Committee report detailing alleged misuse of marketing campaign funds by Santos, the Home voted to expel Santos on Friday, making him the primary particular person in historical past to be faraway from Congress with out being convicted of a criminal offense or being a part of the Confederacy. In accordance with Rep. David Joyce (R-OH), Miller’s e-mail was the ultimate straw that satisfied some Home members who had been involved concerning the precedent of expelling a colleague with no prison conviction to vote for Santos’ ouster.
When Miller first alluded to his accusation on Thursday, Santos angrily demanded that the remark be “stricken from the report.” His request was rejected as “not well timed.” Santos, who didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon this story, blasted the remarks as “hypocrisy” in gentle of the truth that Miller has confronted home violence allegations.
“All of us have pasts,” Santos mentioned.
