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Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images
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The Ethics Report on George Santos
When they return from their Thanksgiving break, House members will have to grapple with whether to expel Rep. George Santos from their ranks.
On Nov. 16, the investigative subcommittee of the House Committee on Ethics released a 56-page report that "revealed a complex web of unlawful activity involving Representative Santos’ campaign, personal, and business finances." A day later, the committee chairman -- a Republican -- introduced legislation to expel the New York Republican.
"The evidence uncovered in the Ethics Committee’s Investigative Subcommittee investigation is more than sufficient to warrant punishment and the most appropriate punishment, is expulsion,” Rep. Michael Guest, the committee chairman, said in a statement.
So what's in the report? Our staff reviewed the subcommittee's findings in our article, "What's in the Ethics Report on George Santos?"
Our article breaks down the report into four sections: Campaign Finance Violations, Financial Disclosure Violations, Lack of Diligence and Candor, and Personal History.
In its history, the House has expelled only five members -- including three in 1861 for "disloyalty to the Union," according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. The last time it happened was in 2002, when the House expelled James A. Traficant of Ohio, who was also "convicted by a jury of criminal charges related to his service in Congress," CRS says in a report updated on Nov. 7.
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We pay for an ad-tracking service called AdImpact that sends us email alerts whenever it captures a new political ad. That's how FactCheck.org Deputy Managing Editor Robert Farley found his latest story on a TV ad attacking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that was aired by a political action committee tied to California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Read more.
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A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that in 2022, 5.6 infants out of every 1,000 live births died before they turned 1 in the U.S., a 3% increase over 2021. It was the first statistically significant rise in 20 years, and returns the infant mortality rate, which has steadily fallen over the decades, to the 2019 level. Read more.
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Three viral illnesses -- the seasonal flu, COVID-19, and respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV -- made up the “tripledemic” that overwhelmed some health care facilities last winter.
The latest Annenberg Science and Public Health Knowledge survey released this week found that more than one-third of American adults are worried that they or someone in their family will get one of the three viral illnesses this winter.
The survey gauges public knowledge of the three viruses and the vaccines that protect us from getting a severe case of the flu, COVID-19 or RSV. For more, read the Annenberg Public Policy Center's press release about the survey.
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Reader: What country was Kamala Harris born?
FactCheck.org Director Eugene Kiely: As we’ve reported before, Vice President Kamala Harris, whose mother is from India and whose father is from Jamaica, was born in Oakland, California on Oct. 20, 1964, according to the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
We wrote about this in 2020, when there were some on social media falsely claiming that Harris wasn't eligible to be president of the United States. She is eligible as a natural-born citizen of the United States.
At the time of our story, Josh Chafetz, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center who specializes in constitutional law, told us: “To serve as president, one must be at least 35 years old, have been a resident of the United States for at least 14 years, and be a ‘natural born Citizen’ (Article II, sec. 1 of the Constitution). Additionally, one cannot have already been president for more than a term and a half (22nd Amendment).”
Chafetz added that the fact that Harris’s parents are immigrants is “wholly irrelevant.”
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Wrapping Up
Here's what else we've got for you this week:
- "The Cost of Thanksgiving Dinner with a Side of Partisan Spin": As Americans gather for the Thanksgiving holiday, both the White House and the Republican National Committee have served up some political spin: They claimed this year’s dinner was either cheaper or more expensive. And they’re both right.
- "No Evidence of Link Between U.S. Infant Mortality Rate Increase and COVID-19 Vaccines": A recent federal report shows a 3% increase in the U.S. infant mortality rate between 2021 and 2022, which is the first statistically significant rise in 20 years. The cause of the uptick is unknown, but there’s no evidence that it’s due to COVID-19 vaccination, as some social media posts baselessly suggest.
- "Cruz Distorts Facts on Biden Support for Israel": In a Fox News interview about the Israel-Hamas war, Sen. Ted Cruz said “literally from within minutes of when this horrific attack began on Oct. 7, the Biden White House has been telling Israel, do not retaliate, cease-fire, stop, do not kill the terrorists.” But the Texas Republican has thin support for his claim.
- "Unpacking Democratic Ad Attacking DeSantis, Florida Abortion Law": An ad from a political action committee tied to California Gov. Gavin Newsom claims that a law signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would subject women who get an abortion after six weeks to felony charges. DeSantis' campaign calls the claim "a lie." We look at what the law says -- and doesn't say -- that has caused some confusion.
Y lo que publicamos en español (English versions are accessible in each story):
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