Representative George Santos has been the center of plenty of controversies since his foray into the public eye. From claiming that his mother was killed in the 9/11 terror attacks of 2001 (she is, in fact, alive today), to allegedly misappropriating campaign donations, he’s stirred up some serious drama.
Most recently, Santos narrowly escaped being expelled from the House based on due process concerns. The Republican New York rep is currently under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for charges of conspiracy, wire fraud, false statements, falsification of records, aggravated identity theft, and credit card fraud. In response, House Republicans initiated a vote to expel him from Congress (which he survived with room to spare).
To express his appreciation for the members of Congress who voted against his expulsion, Santos sent a note of thanks, which was tragically fraught with grammatical errors, to each Representative who supported him. One recipient showed his true feelings about the whole ordeal, despite voting in favor of keeping the controversial Representative Santos in office.
Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland responded to Santos by marking up the text of his letter and sending it back, a move that has been lauded as both perfectly bitchy and a seamless expression of Raskin’s sentiment on the matter.
The corrections make it clear that Raskin’s vote to preserve Santos’ spot in Congress was not personal, and it was not a personal favor; rather, it was a move intended to prevent a dangerous precedent from being set for all members of Congress. (And we don’t have to look any further than Tennessee to see his point.) In other words: purely professional, not to be read into, and not an indication of allyship to the highly problematic Santos.
“P.S.,” Raskin’s note back read, “It’s not shameful to resign.”
(featured image: Michael Burrell/Getty Images)
