Congressman George Santos sent out a series of thank you notes to his Republican colleagues, whose votes last week assured the New York Republican would not be expelled from the House of Representatives.
"I want to personally thank you for your support in referring the vote for my expulsion to the Ethics Committee," the letters, obtained by Insider, say. "This has been an especially difficult time in my life, and I want to serve my constituents the best I can."
"Now more than ever, the Republican majority needs to stick together, and you demonstrated great dedication and courage by putting differences aside to allow the proper process to play out," the messages conclude.
A spokesperson for Mr Santos’s office confirmed the letters were accurate and said the Republican "wanted to express his thanks to his fellow members for allowing the process to play out so that the 118th Congress can focus on the critical issues facing our country, starting with border security and addressing the issue of the debt ceiling."
On Wednesday, the House bucked convention and sent a proposal to expel Mr Santos, who was indicted on a series of federal fraud charges earlier this month, to the House Ethics Committee.
Typically, the committee defers to the Justice Department on criminal matters.
Earlier this month, Mr Santos was hit with a 13-count federal indictment, alleging a series of fraudulent actions before and during his run for office.
The charges include seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.
Prosecutors allege he lied on financial forms submitted as part of his House candidacy, failed to disclose forms of income, overstated earnings, and used donations from his political campaign for personal purposes, including “thousands of dollars of the solicited funds on personal expenses, including luxury designer clothing and credit card payments.”
Mr Santos, who flipped beat an incumbent Democrat to win his Long Island seat in 2022, has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
