House Democrats slammed Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., who was indicted on 13 felony charges last week, during the Oversight and Reform Committee's hearing about crime in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday.
The Justice Department criminally charged the freshman congressman with seven counts of wire fraud, one count of theft of public funds, three counts of money laundering and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives last Wednesday, following an investigation prompted by reports that he had fabricated parts of his biography during his 2022 campaign.
During Tuesday's hearing, Santos' fellow congressional newcomer, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a Democrat from Texas, admonished House Republicans for failing to take action against Santos even after his indictment.
"My Republican colleagues want to talk about keeping DC streets crime free. They can't even keep the halls of Congress crime free," she began, adding "My freshman colleague has just been indicted on 13 counts — 13 felony counts — but have they exhibited any courage to say, 'You know what, we will disallow this in our body, we will make sure that we expel this individual.' They have not."
"So, what I don't want to hear is that they care about crime, because if they did, they would start by cleaning up our own House and mind our own business, instead of coming after D.C.," Crockett continued.
Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., echoed Crockett's sentiments, further rebuking Republican lawmakers for seeking to discuss crime in the nation's capital in the first place.
"We're here talking about crime while one of our colleagues from across the aisle, who's been indicted on 13 criminal counts, is not only at large after being bailed out of a New York jail, he is walking around this Capitol voting," she said of Santos, who was released on a $500,000 bond after pleading not guilty to the charges.
"And the people of D.C. do not have representation in these halls. It's outrageous. It is absolutely outrageous," she added.
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