House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told CNN Tuesday that the House Ethics Committee is investigating embattled GOP freshman Rep. George Santos, N.Y., as mounting scandals are leading to more of his colleagues calling for his resignation.
"Ethics is moving through, and if ethics finds something, we'll take action," McCarthy told CNN on Tuesday when asked about calls for his resignation. "Right now, we're not allowing him to be on committees from the standpoint of the questions that have arisen."
The newly elected congressman from New York's 13th District, which includes part of Long Island and Queens, has been under fire since winning his seat in the midterm elections for allegedly lying about his background and resume, as well as possible finance violations associated with his campaign, the Associated Press has reported.
In addition, the BBC reported Monday that Derek Myers, 30, who was a former aide to Santos, is now accusing him of sexual misconduct while briefly working in Santos' office.
"Today, I filed a police report with Capitol Police and a complaint with [the Ethics Committee] regarding ethical violations and sexual harassment by Congressman George Santos during my time working in his office," Myers, a journalist, posted on Twitter Feb. 3. "As stated in the filings, my complaint pertains to violations of House Ethics in which I was an unpaid volunteer performing staff duties with the promise of employment and compensation, only to be released after several days of work without compensation."
He went on to say that the matters would not be "litigated on social media or through news media."
"They are serious offenses, and the evidence and facts will speak for themselves if the committee takes up the matter," Myers wrote on Twitter. "This tweet is being made public in light of transparency."
On Jan. 27, the AP reported that the Federal Election Commission sent the Santos campaign a letter asking for clarification regarding reporting a person as its new treasurer who then said they didn't work for the organization.
The letter said Santos "may have failed to include the true, correct, or complete treasurer information."
According to the report, Santos' filing included Thomas Datwyler as its treasurer, but his lawyer said he did not take the job.
"On Monday we informed the Santos campaign that Mr. Datwyler would not be serving as treasurer," Datwyler's lawyer, Derek Ross, said in a statement at the time. "It appears there's a disconnect between that conversation and the filings [Wednesday] which we did not authorize."
If the ethics committee finds evidence of wrongdoing, Santos could be expelled from Congress, according to the CNN report.
The stream of scandalous revelations is even leading his fellow New York Republican colleagues in Congress to call for him to step down.
"As I've said consistently, I think he ought to resign and really take stock of himself and start being honest, not only with the people he serves, but with himself," CNN reported Rep. Marc Molinaro, a New York GOP freshman representing the 19th District, saying.