The U.S. House failed to pass a resolution to expel Rep. George Santos (R-NY) on November 1, just hours after he was indicted on 10 new federal charges for alleged campaign finance fraud.

The resolution came not long after Santos was indicted on more Federal charges related to fraud and lying to the Federal Election Commission. 

Rep. George Santos (R-NY) received ten additional indictments from a Federal Court in Central Islip, New York, Tuesday for several violations, including wire fraud, making false statements to the Federal Election Commission, and charging donors' credit cards without permission. 

The final tally on the resolution was 179 to 213 (19 members voted present). But that was just the beginning of the story for the embattled congressman. About two weeks later, the House Ethics Committee came out with a report stating that it's likely Santos broke the law--but chose not to sanction Santos, instead leaving it to House members::

In the report, the Ethics Committee also stated that Santos was not cooperative with the investigation at all and that he purposefully evaded questioning and requests for information. They further allege that the information that Santos gave to the Committee “included material misstatements that further advanced falsehoods he made during his 2022 campaign.” The report also said that they did not take steps that would have led to a sanctions hearing by the Committee but instead urged the House Members to "take any action they deem appropriate and necessary" against Santos. 

Then on Nov. 25, Santos lashed out at his congressional colleagues in a rant claiming that Congress moving ahead with an expulsion vote against him exposed a double standard. As my colleague Jeff Charles wrote:

On Friday, Santos held a Spaces session on X, formerly known as Twitter, in which he savaged his fellow, congressional lawmakers for engaging in conduct on par with that of which he has been accused.

Santos said that "[w]ithin the ranks of the United States Congress, there’s felons galore, there’s people with all sorts of sheisty backgrounds."

He continued:

The lawmaker even suggested that some lawmakers are voting while drunk, and participating in inappropriate relationships with lobbyists.[...]

"I have colleagues who are more worried about getting drunk every night with the next lobbyists that they’re going to screw and pretend like none of us know what’s going on and sell off the American people," he said, adding that some do not "show up to vote because they’re too hungover or whatever the reason is, or not show up to vote at all and just give their card out like f---ing candy for someone else to vote for them."

"This s--- happens every single week. Where are the ethics investigations?" he said.

Now, the House is set to move forward with the process for a second time of expelling the congressman. Debate is scheduled to happen on the resolution on Thursday, then a vote on it Friday, according to a source for ABC News.

Speaker Mike Johnson commented Wednesday on the Santos vote, and the larger precedent that kicking him out might set:

House Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday that he has "real reservations" about the upcoming vote to expel Rep. George Santos, citing concerns that removing a member without being convicted would establish a bad precedent.[...]

"I trust that people will make that decision thoughtfully and in good faith," Johnson said during a news conference at the Capitol Wednesday. "I personally have real reservations about doing this. I'm concerned about a precedent that may be set for that."

Johnson also said something that's somewhat surprising -- leadership isn't going to tell the conference which way to vote: 

Johnson says members can "vote their conscience" and leadership will not instruct them how to vote -- setting up a dramatic vote later this week.

When he commented on the vote, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) was firm in his conviction not to expel Santos, saying "[t]he bar has to be very high for the other members of Congress to remove a member. And that is, in my view, a conviction in a court of law."

Rep. Santos, meanwhile, says he "will hold a news conference on the Capitol steps Thursday morning." In other words, make sure to have your popcorn popped and ready to munch on early. The momentum, at least at the moment, is for Republicans to expel Santos later in the week.