Democrats ask House ethics panel for probe of new NY Rep. Santos
WASHINGTON — The House Ethics Committee was asked Tuesday to investigate Rep. George Santos, the newly elected Republican from New York who has admitted to lying about his job experience, college education and family heritage, and now faces questions about his campaign financial disclosures.
Two Democrats requested the probe, saying Santos “has failed to uphold the integrity expected of members of the House of Representatives.”
In a letter to the Ethics Committee, Democratic Reps. Ritchie Torres and Dan Goldman, both of New York, said Santos also failed to file “timely, accurate and complete” financial disclosure reports as required by law. They said the reports Santos did file are “sparse and perplexing.” They asked the panel to investigate and “take appropriate action as soon as possible.”
Some Democratic leaders said Santos should be expelled from the House.
A spokesperson for Santos did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Santos has admitted to fabricating aspects of his life story and experience in his run for the House seat that he won in November, helping to give the GOP a narrow majority. Nevertheless, the newly elected lawmaker was sworn into office last week alongside all other members of the House.
Republican leaders have refused to take action against Santos, whose election helped give them a 222-seat hold on the House majority. Santos also voted last week in the raucous balloting to make GOP leader Kevin McCarthy the House speaker.
Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana said
Tuesday the situation is being “handled internally” by Republicans.
The Ethics Committee’s next steps are unclear. As part of the new House rules package, any member of the public can now file complaints against lawmakers. Ethics advocates have warned other new rules will weaken the committee’s staff and membership.
‘Diamond’ dies: Lynette Hardaway, an ardent supporter of former President Donald Trump and one half of the conservative political commentary duo Diamond and Silk, has died, according to the pair’s Twitter account. She was 51.
Hardaway, known as “Diamond,” carved out a unique role as a Black woman who loudly backed Trump and right-wing policies, earning fame on the Internet and then as a cable television commentator.
She and her sister, Rochelle “Silk” Richardson, rose to prominence during the 2016 presidential campaign cycle when they appeared on stage in support of Trump, who embraced the two Black women amid widespread accusations of racism and sexism.
Fox News removed them as contributors in 2020 after they came under fire for spreading false information about the pandemic and vaccines. The duo had suggested the virus was man-made and that the rising death toll was a media conspiracy to make the Trump administration look bad.
Hardaway’s cause of death has not been released.
Proud Boys trial: A jury has been set chosen for the seditious conspiracy trial of former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four others in the far-right extremist group charged
with plotting to stop the transfer of presidential power by attacking the U.S. Capitol after the 2020 election.
Jurors are expected to hear attorneys’ opening statements in Washington’s federal court on Wednesday, defense attorney Carmen Hernandez said.
Jury selection took 10 days of questioning as many potential jurors expressed negative views about the Proud Boys. The panel chosen Monday includes seven men and nine women, WUSA-TV reported.
Tarrio and his co-defendants could face up to 20 years behind bars if convicted of seditious conspiracy.
Porter’s Senate run: Democratic Rep. Katie Porter of California said Tuesday she will seek the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a fellow Democrat and the oldest member of the chamber.
Porter, 49, was first elected to Congress in 2018 and won
a tight race for reelection to her newly redrawn Southern California district in November.
She said in a video posted on Twitter that she has “challenged the status quo” in Washington, taking on “big banks,” Wall Street and the pharmaceutical industry. She wants to ban members of Congress from stock trading.
Feinstein, 89, has faced questions about her age and memory and whether she will seek another term.
A court in Romania’s capital of Bucharest has upheld the 30-day arrest of divisive social media personality and self-described misogynist Andrew Tate on charges of organized crime, human trafficking and rape, an official said Tuesday.
Ramona Bolla, a spokesperson for Romanian anti-organized-crime agency DIICOT, said the court rejected an appeal by Tate against a judge’s earlier decision to extend his arrest
Social media star held:
from 24 hours to 30 days.
Tate, 36, a British-U.S. citizen who has 4.5 million followers on Twitter, was initially detained on Dec. 29 for 24 hours along with his brother Tristan, who was charged in the same case. Two Romanian women also were taken into custody.
The Bucharest Court of Appeal late Tuesday rejected all four appeals against a judge’s Dec. 30 decision to grant prosecutors’ request to extend the arrest period. A document explaining the judge’s earlier decision said “the possibility of them evading investigations cannot be ignored.”
Tate, a former professional kickboxer who has reportedly lived in Romania since 2017, was previously banned from various prominent social media platforms for expressing misogynistic views and hate speech.
Outbreak in China: Chinese embassies suspended issuing new visas for South Koreans and Japanese on Tuesday in apparent retaliation
for COVID-19 testing requirements recently imposed by those countries on travelers from China.
The embassies in Tokyo and Seoul announced the bans in online notices.
The Seoul notice, posted on the embassy’s WeChat account, said the ban would continue until South Korea lifts its “discriminatory entry measures” against China. The announcement covered tourist, business and some other visas.
China’s embassy in Tokyo said visa issuance had been suspended. The announcements appeared to apply only to new applicants, with nothing about people currently holding visas.
China’s Foreign Ministry threatened countermeasures last week against countries that had announced new virus testing requirements for travelers from China. At least 10 in Europe, North America and Asia have done so recently.
It wasn’t clear why South Korea and Japan were targeted.