'Nice try': Eric Swalwell smacks down GOP lawmaker for smearing him to excuse George Santos

Most of the New York Republican delegation has spent months calling on their fellow Republican colleague Rep. George Santos to resign, following revelations of serial fabulism, campaign finance irregularities, and — as of this month — 13 federal charges for fraud, money laundering, and false statements. But when Democrats put forward a resolution to expel him from the House, the New York Republicans voted instead to table that and instead refer Santos to the House Ethics Committee, which was already investigating him anyway and ensures the matter will be tied up for the foreseeable future.

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) took to Twitter to call out one of the freshman New York Republican lawmakers, Rep. Mike Lawler, for his hypocrisy — and when Lawler hit him back with a smear, Swalwell was having none of it.

"As I predicted last week, Mike Lawler is all talk," tweeted Swalwell. "For months Lawler has called on Santos to resign. But when it comes time to vote on expelling an admitted fraudster, Lawler is all talk."

"If we follow your standard for expulsion, then you should be expelled for your relationship with a Chinese spy," wrote Lawler — a reference to an old story about a spy who attempted to infiltrate Swalwell's personal life that Republicans have constantly targeted him for, even though he did nothing wrong and cooperated with the FBI against her. "Santos should resign, but in the absence of a conviction or referral from Ethics, you are creating a new standard for expulsion — one that has never been used."

Swalwell was quick to push back.

"Nice try. Nice lie," wrote Swalwell. "Except Santos was indicted and the FBI said this about me, 'Swalwell was completely cooperative and under no suspicion of wrongdoing…It was a defensive briefing. Information was obtained where we do a duty to warn.'"

Santos, who is accused of fraudulently obtaining unemployment benefits as part of the alleged fraud scheme, has refused to resign and calls the charges against him a "witch hunt."