Rep. Garrett Graves (R-Louisiana) called former Rep. George Santos an “idiot” who watched President Biden’s State of the Union address on the House floor Thursday night, infuriating the rest of the New York delegation. criticized.
“That guy is an idiot. He shouldn’t be here,” Graves told reporters after the State of the Union address.
“My guess is that they were so outraged that the New York delegation created new rules barring him from attending the House,” Graves added, adding that former members should retain privileges on the floor. He said he did not think so.
“They were very bothered by Santos being there and just the sensationalism and the attention,” Graves added.
Santos was expelled from the House of Representatives last year after a series of controversies.
Lawmakers voted 311-114-2 on December 1 to expel Santos from the House, making him the sixth lawmaker ever to be expelled from the House.
His ouster was his third successful attempt to remove him from public office after he was indicted on 23 criminal charges related to allegedly defrauding donors, fraudulently receiving unemployment benefits, and charging donors’ credit cards without their permission. did.
Mr. Santos has pleaded not guilty to all charges and a trial is scheduled for September.
The former lawmakers retained parliamentary privilege, which they used Thursday night, and appeared in the chamber wearing collars studded with glitter.
Mr. Santos has frequently signaled that he intends to maintain a presence in his former workplace, pointing to his absence in the event of a narrow Republican loss of votes.
In a speech Thursday, Santos said he would run for Congress again against Rep. Nick Larota, R-New York, one of his former colleagues who led the charge to oust him.
This article was updated at 12:14 a.m.
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