House ethics chairman says George Santos report will not include a recommendation to expel him

GOP Rep. Michael Guest, the chairman of the House Ethics Committee, told CNN that there would not be a recommendation on whether to expel Rep. George Santos from the House in the panel’s long-awaited report on his conduct.

The decision to avoid an explicit recommendation could make it harder to expel the New York Republican given that many GOP members remain on the fence and have waited for the ethics report to make a final decision. It would require 290 votes — or two-thirds of the full House — to expel Santos, whom sources say was presented with the report on Wednesday.

If expelled, Santos would only be the sixth House member in history to be removed from his seat by his own colleagues — and the first since James Traficant in 2002.

Plus expelling Santos could further narrow the GOP’s slim majority and give Democrats a prime pickup opportunity in a district Joe Biden carried in 2020. Santos told CNN this month that he would run for his seat again even if he’s expelled.

On Wednesday, Guest said that including a recommendation on a punishment would have extended the investigation into next year. But he said members can judge for themselves on whether the findings justify expulsion.

”There will not be a recommendation and —  there will be a report as to what the findings of the investigation revealed,” Guest said. “But if we were to make, if the Ethics Committee were to make recommendations as to sanctions, it would have been a much longer process, carried out probably well into the next year, maybe even until the end of next year. And so we are not going to make any recommendation to the House – that will be up to each individual member.”

The report is expected to be released as soon as Thursday.

The freshman congressman has pleaded not guilty to 23 federal charges, including allegations of fraud related to…