Santos is enjoying the spotlight, even though his show seems to be closing

It would likely be his penultimate day in Congress, and Representative George Santos of New York seemed determined to leave the way he came: as a scandal-ridden curiosity seeking maximum attention.

The serial fabulist, charged with 23 federal crimes, arrived on the Capitol grounds at 8 a.m. Thursday for a news conference where he railed against the precedent set by the vote to expel him, scheduled for the next day used to be.

Dressed in navy blue Ferragamo loafers that he insisted were not purchased with cash and accused of stealing from his campaign (“Go to the website,” he said. “They’re six years old!”), Mr. Santos surrounded by a semicircle of the reporters he had lured out of bed with the promise of “big news.”

He did not resign. Instead, he said he was making a motion to expel another member, Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York, who earlier this year pleaded guilty to sounding a fire alarm in a House of Representatives office building when the Democrats tried to delay a vote in Congress.

Yes, it was a gimmick, but that was his point. Mr Santos claimed his upcoming expulsion vote was “all theatre”. It’s theater for the cameras. It is theater for the microphones.”

If Congress was theater, Mr. Santos had just begun his final role as the lead in the play, which he described as his “year from hell.”

It may have been traumatic to be at the center of scandals of his own making, but at times it was also exhilarating. Dodging cameras and walking with an accompanying horde of reporters at least gave the committee-less congressman something to do on Capitol Hill over the past 10 months.

“If Manu isn’t chasing you, you’re really not a member of Congress,” Mr. Santos joked, referring to CNN’s seemingly ubiquitous congressional correspondent, Manu Raju. The friendly chat continued as Mr. Santos began his second appearance of the day: an hour-long question-and-answer session with a group of hand-picked journalists he convened to talk about his current situation and dreams.

Mr. Santos complained about the bad optics of a passing garbage truck, an ugly backdrop to his morning press conference. But overall, he said, “I’m strangely calm. I’m done losing sleep, I’m done stressing. I just made peace with God in the best way possible and said that whatever comes my way, I will accept it. I’m 35, I still have a whole life to live.”

Mr. Santos said he had finally accepted that he would most likely leave Congress on Friday and never return. “I think they have it,” he said of the two-thirds majority needed to expel him from the party. “I mean, it’s the third time you’ve gotten it together.”

Still, with reporters from national news media surrounding him, bombarding him with flattering questions about whether he would run for governor of New York, Santos was optimistic. He said job offers were already pouring in and he was planning to write a book. “I realized that I am highly employable,” he said. “They are offering me jobs left and right, from media to entertainment and public advocacy.”

Mr. Santos scoffed at the idea of ​​taking advantage of the lifetime privileges afforded to former members of Congress — even those who have been expelled. No one should expect to see him back at the Capitol anytime soon, he said, adding, “I have a sour relationship with a lot of people in the body.” On Saturday morning, he planned to sleep in and then pack up his Washington apartment for good.

Mr Santos, who is accused of using campaign funds for cosmetic procedures, and OnlyFans, a website known for its explicit content, claimed he would fight to prove his innocence. But he wasn’t shy about the work he did. “I use cosmetic Botox and filler, that’s no secret, has anyone ever doubted that?” He said, his lips full and slightly wrinkled, his forehead almost wrinkle-free.

Later that afternoon, ahead of the debate on his expulsion, Mr. Santos sat on the floor of the House of Representatives, in the middle of a largely empty chamber, accompanied by a motley crew of allies who planned to speak up on his behalf: Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, the House’s most famous problem child; Representative Clay Higgins of Louisiana, a far-right conspiracy theorist; and Rep. Troy Nehls of Texas, a Donald J. Trump loyalist who last month pushed to nominate the former president as speaker of the House of Representatives.

“What Mr. Santos has done with Botox or OnlyFans is less concerning to me than the charges against Senator Menendez, who is holding Arabic-inscribed gold bars from Egypt while he continues to receive classified briefings today,” Mr. Gaetz said, referring to Robert Menendez , the New Jersey Democrat who was indicted on bribery charges earlier this year.

“I will not stand up to defend George Santos, whoever he is,” Mr. Gaetz said. Instead, he spoke out to make a point about precedent, he said.

At times, the debate focused on what the House of Representatives has become best known for: Republican-on-Republican violence.

“You, sir, are a crook,” said Representative Max Miller, Republican of Ohio, addressing Mr. Santos directly.

Mr. Santos shot back: “My colleague wants to come here and call me a thug. The same colleague accused of being a wife beater.” (Mr. Miller has been accused of physical abuse by Stephanie Grisham, the former White House press secretary in the Trump administration. He has sued her for defamation.)

For Democrats, Santos was, as he always has been, an easy target that also distracted from their larger project of branding the entire Republican conference in the House of Representatives as a gang of MAGA extremists. At his weekly news conference Thursday morning, Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the minority leader, brought as a prop a poster-sized photo of Mr. Santos and Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia laughing together on the floor of the House of Representatives.

He called Mr. Santos “an evil distraction” before falling into his practiced rap about how the “extreme MAGA Republican Hose majority” still had no vision and no agenda, no matter what happened to their most hated member.

For all his talk about being at peace and accepting his fate, Mr. Santos admitted that his future did not necessarily consist of book deals, television deals and Saturdays spent hitting the snooze button.

“Of course,” he said when asked if he was concerned about serving a prison sentence. “These are serious allegations and I still have a lot of work to do.”