In a recent interview on ABC’s “The View,” Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) called for the expulsion of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) from the U.S. Senate.
Fetterman’s push follows the House’s decision to expel Rep. George Santos (R-NY) after an Ethics Committee report that cited his alleged lies and multiple federal charges, including aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, and conspiracy.
While he expressed little surprise at Santos’s removal, he emphasized the need to address what he considers more significant concerns within the Senate.
“Senator Menendez, he needs to go,” he stated.
For Fetterman, Menendez has done worse than Santos and also deserves to be kicked out of the Senate.
“And if you are going to expel Santos, how can you allow somebody like Menendez to remain in the Senate? And, you know, Santos is kind of, lies were almost, you know, funny. And like, you know, he, you know, landed on the moon and that kind of stuff,” he stated.
“Whereas, you know, I think, you know, Menendez, I think is really a senator for Egypt. You know, not New Jersey. So I really think he needs to go. He has the right for his day in court and all that, but he doesn’t have the right to have those kinds of votes and things that — that’s not a right. And I think we need to make that kind of decision to send him out,” he added.
Fetterman: "We have a colleague in the Senate that's actually done much more sinister kinds of things. He needs to go. If you are going to expel Santos, how can you allow Menendez to remain in the Senate? Menendez is really a Senator for Egypt, not New Jersey." pic.twitter.com/bh8RCnD1MM
— Grand Old Patriots🇺🇸 (@GrandOlPatriots) December 1, 2023
Fetterman’s call to expel Menendez is not new. He previously voiced his concerns about the New Jersey Congressman, stating in an October tweet, “Senator Menendez should not be a U.S. Senator. He should have been gone long ago. It is time for every one of my colleagues in the Senate to join me in expelling Senator Menendez. We cannot have an alleged foreign agent in the United States Senate. This is not a close call.”
The vote to expel Santos from the House required a two-thirds majority, and it passed with 311 representatives voting in favor, 114 against, and two voting present. Notably, 105 Republicans joined Democrats in supporting the expulsion, demonstrating a united front on this issue.
Interestingly, all four top Republican House leaders, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and House GOP Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN), expressed their opposition to Santos’s expulsion.
They argued that expelling a representative who had not been convicted of any crimes could set a concerning precedent. Additionally, GOP House leadership refrained from rallying votes to prevent Santos’s expulsion, with Johnson emphasizing that it was a matter of conscience.
