According to Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), the alleged criminal activities of Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) are less "serious" than those of Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.).
The House expelled Santos by a vote of 311-114 on Friday morning, subsequent to the release of a critical report by the House Ethics Committee, as reported by The Daily Caller.
According to the committee's allegations, the troubled congressman was implicated in "substantial evidence" of federal crime.
Fetterman argued that Menendez ought to be removed from Congress using the same process as Santos, due to their purported acceptance of bribery to wield political influence in New Jersey and internationally.
“But to me, I think the more important picture is that we have a colleague in the Senate that actually [has] done much more sinister and serious kinds of things, Senator Menendez,” Fetterman said on “The View” on Friday.
“He needs to go. And if you are going to expel Santos, how can you allow to somebody like Menendez to remain in the Senate. And you know, Santos’ lies were almost like, you know, funny, and he landed on the moon and all that kind of stuff.
"Whereas I think Menendez I think is really a senator for Egypt, not New Jersey. So I really think he needs to go, and especially, it’s kind of strange that if Santos is not allowed to remain in the House, someone like that.”
Fetterman demanded in an October statement that Menendez be removed from the Senate, citing his status as a "alleged foreign agent" as unsuitable for the chamber.
Menendez is accused in the indictment of passing classified information from the United States government to the Egyptian government and of maintaining a "corrupt relationship" with three New Jerseyans, all of which are associated with his bribery endeavors.
His residence's closets, clothing, and safe allegedly contained gold bars and currency in excess of $480,000.
Menendez pled not guilty to all offenses in which he refuted the allegations. The senator from New Jersey asserted that his parents, who were Cuban, had a customary practice of setting aside funds for unforeseen circumstances. He rationalized this practice by attributing it to property confiscation that occurred in Cuba.
Despite calls from fellow senators, the New Jersey senator has maintained his stance and refused to resign from his Senate seat. He resigned temporarily as chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee following the indictment.
The House removed Santos from office following an investigation by the Ethics Committee into the 23-count indictment that accused him of campaign finance violations, wire fraud, and making false statements to the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
Further charges levied against him consist of receiving pilfered property, providing legislators with materially false statements, and aggravated identity theft.
