If Santos is evicted, he will join a small, infamous group

Should Rep. George Santos, Republican of New York, be expelled from the House of Representatives in a vote expected Friday, he would join a select group of disgraced American politicians consigned to that ignominious fate.

In the history of Congress, only twenty members—five representatives and fifteen senators—have been removed from office by a vote of their colleagues. the Congressional Research Service.

The reason for most previous expulsions was disloyalty to the United States, particularly because of their support of the Confederacy over the Union during the Civil War. One senator, William Blount of Tennessee, was expelled in 1797 after devising a plan to attack what was then Spanish Florida and Louisiana, the territories at the time, and transfer them to England for his own financial gain.

Two of the three House members expelled for supporting secession and the Confederacy were from Missouri: John W. Reid and John B. Clark; the third was Henry C. Burnett of Kentucky. All three were slaves, This is evident from a database compiled by The Washington Post.

Only two members of the House of Representatives have been expelled since the Civil War.

One, Michael J. Myers, Democrat of Pennsylvania, was removed from office in 1980 after being convicted of bribery in the so-called Abscam scandal.

The other, James A. Traficant Jr., Democrat of Ohio, was deported in 2002 after being convicted of bribery, extortion, tax evasion and other crimes.

Mr. Myers was impeached by a vote of 376-30, and Mr. Traficant by a vote of 420-1.

Unlike Mr. Myers and Mr. Traficant, Mr. Santos has not been convicted of a crime. He has been charged with nearly two dozen federal crimes and has pleaded not guilty.