Santos posts, then deletes meme after failed expulsion vote  

Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) shared a meme on social media Wednesday night, moments after an effort to oust him from Congress failed in the lower chamber. He later quickly took the post down.

In a post to X, formerly known as Twitter, Santos shared a photoshopped image of him wearing a crown against the backdrop of the House floor, with the words “If you come for me, you best not miss.”

Above the image, Santos wrote: “Tonight was a victory for due process not me. This was never about me, and I’ll never let it become about me. We all have rights under this great Constitutional Republic and I’ll fight for our right to uphold them till my last dying breath.”

The House on Wednesday night voted 213-179-19 against a resolution to expel Santos, marking the second unsuccessful attempt this year to eject the first-term lawmaker from the House. A two-thirds threshold is needed to expel a member of Congress.

A total of 31 Democrats joined 182 Republicans in voting to keep Santos out of Congress.

The effort to oust Santos was spearheaded by a group of fellow first-term New York Republicans — led by Rep. Anthony D’Esposito — who moved last week to force a vote to expel Santos in the wake of his mounting legal battles.  

Santos faces 23 federal charges ahead of his trial, expected to begin in September 2024.

Last week, the embattled lawmaker pleaded not guilty to a set of 10 new criminal charges in a superseding indictment alleging he inflated his campaign finance reports and charged his donors’ credit cards without authorization.

Santos was charged in May with 13 counts of misleading donors, fraudulently receiving unemployment benefits and lying on House financial disclosures.

Santos admitted earlier this year to embellishing parts of his background while campaigning, but he has reiterated he will not resign despite his legal troubles.