Congressman George Santos (R-NY), who has spent his entire term buried in an avalanche of scandals over his alleged campaign finance misconduct and serial lying about his personal background credentials, has been indicted on federal charges, which are currently under seal but could be revealed as soon as Wednesday. All of this could intensify calls for him to resign, many of which were coming from Republican officials in New York.
However, said political analyst Gloria Borger on CNN Tuesday, one person who may not respond to the pressure is House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) — because there are much more difficult issues at play for him.
"Does this put ... new pressure on the House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, to take action against Santos?" asked anchor Wolf Blitzer.
"It might. But I doubt that he'll respond to that kind of pressure at this point," said Borger. "If Santos were, say, forced to resign, you'd have to hold a special election. You hold a special election, the Republicans could lose the seat easily, and if Republicans were to lose the seat, Speaker McCarthy's margin gets even smaller, and that's something he does not want."
That situation, continued Borger, "is why he's never talked about Santos resigning when Republicans in New York State were talking about Santos resigning. That's why McCarthy hasn't touched it."
"So we have to watch and see what McCarthy does, but my bet is, you know, his margin is so slim that he's not going to force Santos to do anything, because he doesn't want that special election," Borger added.
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