House Speaker Kevin McCarthy confirms embattled Rep. George Santos is being investigated by the House Ethics committee.
"The one thing I've known as the questions have been... arisen that the people of his district had voted for him in the process," said McCarthy Tuesday on Capitol Hill.
"Ethics is moving through and if ethics find something, we'll take action. And right now, we're not allowing him to be on committee from the standpoint of the questions that have arisen."
The New York Republican has faced numerous calls for his resignation and is facing multiple investigations by prosecutors over his personal and campaign finances and lies about his resume and family background.
Santos was assigned to two fairly low-profile panels, the House Committee on Small Business and to the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee but announced shortly after he would temporarily stepping down from the committees.
The questions surrounding Santos go beyond his misrepresentations to voters to include whether his congressional campaign followed the law in its reporting to the Federal Election Commission.
There have been lingering questions about irregularities in his campaign committee's financial reports and the source of Santos’ wealth.
If Santos’ campaign is found to have knowingly and willfully made any “materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation” on its paperwork, it could potentially face criminal charges, the FEC said in a letter to the campaign last month.
Democrats have been highly critical of Santos as well as McCarthy for his efforts to oust three Democratic lawmakers from committees, while at the same time backing committee assignments for Santos, who has lied so thoroughly to his constituents about his background.
McCarthy also talked about the Chinese spy balloon that was shot down over the weekend off the coast of the United States.
"The one thing we do know is it was allowed to go across the country and it never should," said McCarthy.
"It weakens us from a number of different points. And I think China is going to continue to test us. And I don't think we should ever show weakness in their approach."
Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama says his new Cabinet will include an artificial intelligence “minister” in charge of fighting corruption. The AI, named Diella, will oversee public funding projects and combat corruption in public tenders. Diella was launched earlier this year as a virtual assistant on the government's public service platform. Corruption has been a persistent issue in Albania since 1990. Rama's Socialist Party won a fourth consecutive term in May. It aims to deliver EU membership for Albania in five years, but the opposition Democratic Party remains skeptical.
The Trump administration has asked an appeals court to remove Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve’s board of governors by Monday, before the central bank’s next vote on interest rates. Trump sought to fire Cook Aug. 25, but a federal judge ruled late Tuesday that the removal was illegal and reinstated her to the Fed’s board.
President Donald Trump's administration is appealing a ruling blocking him from immediately firing Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook as he seeks more control over the traditionally independent board. The notice of appeal was filed Wednesday, hours after U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb handed down the ruling. The White House insists the Republican president had the right to fire Cook over mortgage fraud allegations involving properties in Michigan and Georgia from before she joined the Fed. Cook's lawsuit denies the allegations and says the firing was unlawful. The case could soon reach the Supreme Court, which has allowed Trump to fire members of other independent agencies but suggested that power has limitations at the Fed.
Chief Justice John Roberts has let President Donald Trump remove a member of the Federal Trade Commission, the latest in a string of high-profile firings allowed for now by the Supreme Court.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
