How do you fill a vacancy in the House?

First things first! The evidence looked strong, but the jury had to be unanimous. It took them just three hours—that’s record time for a jury that had to not only decide whether Donald Trump sexually assaulted and defamed E. Jean Carroll but also had to agree on the amount of damages she was due as a result of his actions. “We’re very happy,” Roberta Kaplan, Carroll’s attorney, told reporters as she left the courthouse. So are women all across America. E. Jean Carroll, brave woman that she is, took on Donald Trump for all of us and won. Thank you, E. Jean.

Best reaction I’ve seen? Marissa Rothkopf, who substacks as “The Secret Life of Cookies,” ran a column about a cake she baked with E. Jean, reimagining her favorite birthday cake.

And then, just when the idea that the Carroll verdict was real was setting in, news dropped that federal prosecutors had indicted New York’s freshman member of Congress and professed liar George Santos. It’s worth noting that news of the indictment came out of nowhere. The feds know how to run silent and deep when they are planning this kind of thing. Those who keep asking when special counsel Jack Smith will act, take note.

The Santos indictment is still under seal. We don’t know what he’s charged with but will find out if he appears in court tomorrow, as expected, when the indictment will be unsealed. Given the number of lies Santos has acknowledged telling (about his name, his education, his mom’s death, his career), it’s difficult to imagine him fighting the case. Although he, like every other defendant, will enter a plea of not guilty at arraignment, don’t expect that to last. I’d be very surprised if Santos did not end up pleading guilty.

There’s no telling just how broad or extensive the charges against him will be. Santos reportedly has issues like the $700,000 loan he made to his campaign despite reporting only $55,000 in income for 2020 on financial disclosure forms. Then there was a slew of campaign expenses listed at exactly $199.99—just one cent below the threshold that triggers a requirement to preserve spending records. What are the odds? Santos scored eight receipts for exactly $199.99 at an Italian restaurant in Queens, as well as one for a hotel room in Miami at a place where rooms go for at least three times that much. Santos may have also used campaign funds for personal expenses and lied about it on his forms. That’s just a sampling of the conduct that could give rise to charges of mail, wire, and campaign finance fraud, as well as of making false statements to the government. Given Santos’s history, there could be other crimes and additional charges too. This is a man who allegedly stole money from a GoFundMe meant to help a veteran’s dying dog, using another name.

What happens when a member of Congress has to leave office because of a criminal problem? The Constitution has an answer for that. Article I, Section 2, clause 4: “When vacancies happen in the Representation from any State, the Executive Authority thereof shall issue Writs of Election to fill such Vacancies.” That means New York’s Democratic governor, Kathy Hochul, herself a former Democratic member of Congress, gets to set a special election to elect a replacement for Santos if a vacancy occurs. State law determines the timing, but the key point here is that unlike the Senate, there is no constitutional provision for the appointment of interim Representatives.

That’s bad news for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. The only reason Santos, a huge liability, has been permitted to remain in Congress is because McCarthy desperately needs his vote given the slender majority Republicans hold.

Source: https://clerk.house.gov/Votes

Not only does McCarthy lose a vote when Santos leaves Congress, he faces the prospect that Democrats will pick up a vote when the election takes place; the district historically elects Democrats, and after the Santos fiasco (to say nothing of the verdict in the Carroll case), Democratic voters are likely to be energized.

A good day today in America.

We’re in this together.

Joyce