that have been released earlier this week. and we know that she is healthy and waiting for her release as well, but she was not held with them and they didn't meet her. >> gili, we appreciate you taking the time to join us and share what that reunion has been like and we will continue to follow your story. thank you. >> thank you. and we'll all have to be strong and resilient to wait until all of them will be back. thank you. >> and "cnn this morning" continues right now. this is cnn breaking news. >> and that breaking news is we are going to take you straight to capitol hill and a press conference from george santos. >> round three of expulsion of congressman george santos from ny 3. i think we can all look back and say this is not how at least i thought this year would go. i don't think this is how most people in the media would think this year would go. and it's just an unfortunate circumstance that i have to sit here and watch american people waste, congress waste the american people's time over and over again on something that is the power of the people, not the power of congress, which is to remove and elect -- to elect and remove members of congress. obviously, some want to cling to some circumstances and to allegations, but there has been a longstanding precedent in the house that every single member that's ever been expelled, and they are trying to join me to the group of three confederates and two people convicted in a court of law. so if i am to get expelled tomorrow, i will be number six in the history. the first republican and the only one without a conviction or without being part of a -- or without having committed treason. so that's kind of where we stand today on that sense. but let me go down a few things here that -- to give you a sense of congress today and what it represents for the american people. it represents chaos. chaos because we have a house that doesn't work for the people. we have a house where we have members with severe allegations against them having the gall and the courage to call the speaker a joke. i read that today in politico. it was on the cover the politico, where, you know, we are reading about members of congress trying to smear one of the most honorable members of our conference and the republican party. so that's just where we've stooped down to. people with rap sheets who think and feel em bold under enough to call out other people for their policy. secondly, it's amazing to me that this house continues to want to push me out. meanwhile, we have secretary mayorkas, who committed dereliction of his duty, has put all americans in danger. if you saw last night the rockefeller center christmas tree lighting, which is something that for years has been one of the most beautiful celebrations in new york city, most peaceful, crowded, yes, but yesterday we had a band of vandals who thought it was appropriate to fight the nypd. this is what took place just yesterday. and that's on secretary mayorkas because a lot of these people, they are not here because they love this country, they don't want the best for this country. why are they here? it's starting from inside. that's what you get when you have open border and an administration oblivious to the real issue taking place. lastly, let's talk about consistency. we have a member of congress that earlier this year took a plea deal to obstructing a congressional hearing. that's not the plea deal he took, right? i'm kidding. he took a plea deal for pulling a fire alarm. a fire alarm which obstructed and delayed an official hearing and proceeding on the house floor. had that been any other person, had it been one of the members of the media, had it been a republican member of congress, we all know that that person would have been charged with obstructing a congressional hearing. just like the somewhat 140e pe 140 people sitting in prison now because of january 6th. but jamaal bowman gets a pass. today at noon i am going to be introduced a privilege motion for expulsion of convicted and guilty pleaded congressman jamaal bowman and i stand there, i think that's consistency. let's hold our own accountable, but let's make sure we do it with the precedent of the house. if the house twants to start different precedent and expel me, that is going to be the undoing of a lot of members of this body because this will haunt them in the future where mere allegations are sufficient to have members removed from office when duly elected by their people in their respective states and districts. bearing that in mind, i am going to make this a very brief comment on the process here that's taking place with the ethics committee. by admission of the chairman himself, he said that the process was not full throttled, not complete because it would require many more months in order for the committee to offer any kind of punishment. so, instead, they decided to stop short of completing the process, going ahead and putting out a slanderous report, unprecedented, nobody has seen ethics reports of any other members who have been under investigation. again, changing precedent for me, it seems it's all fair game. so there we go. they go ahead and release this report littered, littered in hyperbole, littered in opinion that would have no decent cop would bring this to a prosecutor or a d.a. and say here's our report, go ahead and charge him. right? so this is what the etfics committee put out. god bless them and what they think they are doing and what their work is. i believe they do good work when it's relevant, but this ain't it. with that, i am going to make this a brief opportunity for a couple of questions in an orderly fashion without screaming at me. we will go by hands. >> mr. santos. >> go ahead. >> why didn't you participate in the ethics committee investigation? they said you were not cooperating with them. >> i cooperated. i provided every single document for the most part that they went off of came from my counsel. >> mr. santos. >> go ahead. >> you said this is a distraction from the institution. i know you have been getting this question a lot. but if it's truly a distraction, why not resign? >> because if i leave, they win. if i leave, the bullies take place. this is bullying. the chair of the committee putting out a motion to expel just introducing it and not calling its privilege was designed to force me to resign. he didn't have the fortitude to go ahead and call the privilege. he had someone else could it, someone who recently had done one on me. congressman de esposito. it's all theater for the cameras, theater for the microphones, it's theater for the american people at the expense of the american people because no real work is getting done. >> you talked about a lot of the alleged transgressions of other members of congress. have you made any formal complaints? >> i will be filing a slew of complaints in the coming hours of today and tomorrow to make sure that we keep the playing field even because at this point i have been nothing but generous and kind with my time. i have not raised my voice or a single finger against a single other member of this body. but now i guess it's fair game to continue to do that. >> i know don't want to get into the other things, but [ inaudible ] -- >> i told you the other day, i am not unpacking the report. it is counterproductive for me to do so at this time. there will be a time that unpack it entirely and go line by line. i will go line by line when the time is proper. >> i want to get [ inaudible ] . >> he resigned. he resigned. that's -- the reality, he resigned. he resigned. >> congressman santos, you mentioned many members of congress have rap sheets. are you going to be naming them? why not put them -- their names out -- >> why do i have to do your job for you? you guys like digging stuff up on me. dig up other members. it's out in the open. >> you talked about being bullied. why do you think you are being bullied? >> i mean, it's the third time, and each time for different reasons, and they just keep going. i don't know. ask them. i don't care. go ahead. >> are the accusations against you true? >> said this many times. i am fighting to defend myself and to dispel each and every accusation. as soon as i have the opportunity. go ahead. >> what do you say to constituents who feel like you are not serving them while all this is going on? >> you see, that's not true. i have two district offices in new york, and they're constantly busy with folks coming in for various issues, obviously, pertaining from the simple as a need for an expedited passport to more complex immigration issues. there is one thing that sometimes deters people from walking in, is when we have crowds of media outside the office. i am not blaming the media. that d interfere with constituent services. people don't want to be on camera, don't want that exposure of them. but the service is there. i nominated 29 applicants to the service academies and i already have four accepted and i did that earlier than most people in this building. so i'm pretty proud of the fact that i have a staff that's a veteran staff in leadership in my d.c. office and in my district office. and the operation runs pretty smooth. look, we haven't had real complaints other than from organized anti-george santos groups. obviously, i didn't win my seat unanimously with every single vote in the district. i had people who opposed me. we do the best and we are open to everybody. the thing i like to do most is sevg the people. >> do you expect the vote to pass? >> in regards to the allegations in the ethics report, these are items you could easily say did not happen, you have not participated in nany of these things. why are you waiting until after the vote to address the issues? >> i didn't say i was waiting for the vote to come down. i understand. i am doing this in a different schedule. it's not the schedule of the house or the expulsion -- you got a question? go ahead. >> do you expect the expulsion to pass -- >> we are going to keep monitoring what we have been watching. that is, of course, congressman george santos, facing for the third time a vote of expulsion on the house floor, likely tomorrow. certainly heading into the direction of his expulsion within his own party along with democrats. he is standing out in front of the house, not on the capitol steps because members aren't allowed to have press conferences on the capitol steps. just to kind of give a summary of what we heard up to this point, he accused multiple members of having rap sheets. something he read in the publication political, which we aren't surests at this point. protesters in new york city last night supporting the palestinian cause, he referred to them as illegal immigrants. jamaal bowman, he compared him to the january 6th attack on the capitol and those individuals as well who are in jail. he said he cooperated with the ethics inquiry. he did not. he did not sit town for an interview. he also said that the ethics report, which is very damning and contained a lot of receipts, was so thin it wouldn't have brought charges against him if he were a cop, he has been indicted. that's where it stands now. oh, also, two action items. he is going to file a slew of ethics complaints with the office of congressional ethics and jamaal bowman, he will try to file a privilege of resolution to expel him as well. >> he also promised to go line by line when the time is proper to go through that ethics complaint and the ethics findings rather. i thought it was notable how he again this was something he read in political, which we are not familiar with the publication, a clear message, i would say, to speaker johnson as well saying i am on your team. i'm on your team. >> yeah. >> that was tough to miss off the top. >> johnson saying he was concerned about precedent not getting fully behind at all the ex pulgs, said we will get to the panel. this is all theater. he was referring to the expulsion vote, how to make the argument for what you are watching on one side of the screen. lauren fox, alyssa griffin, harry enten and van lathan, and kasie hunt. lauren, i want to start with you. you are there. this is serious. it doesn't have a lot of pr precedent. we are trying to figure out what political is as a publication. explain what it means for the chamber. >> yeah, i mean, clearly he was trying to deflect this morning. all eyes are -- were on weather he was going to make a decision this morning to resign. clearly, that was not his intention for holding this press conference. he wants to distract. he wants to talk about other members. he wants to talk about other people's transgressions without naming who he is talking about. it's clear he is not stepping aside. it's also clear that momentum is building for the votes to expel him. now, we expect that that will come up tomorrow on the house floor. that's when the vote will occur. it's going to be close. it's not clear the votes are there to expel him. obviously, speaker johnson's comments yesterday that he had concerns about setting the wrong precedent. that's weighing on members' minds. they realize that that is something they could potentially be wading into. and you saw santos really seizing on that this morning. so, phil, obviously, he is still going, still answering reporter questions. but i asked him off the top, why didn't you participate with the ethics committee if you are so concerned that this was a sham report? why didn't you sit down for an interview? he said he did participate. i would note that the committee report is very clear. they did not get the cooperation they were looking for from george santos. >> i think his exact words were that he cooperated for the most part. what's interesting, lauren brought up the reservations we heard about from speaker johnson. there is also the very real calculation of the majority and would happen to that majority. it should be the same position, whether 4 or 40 people. when we look at where things stand and the messaging being putting out by speaker johnson, what we're seeing this morning, where does the momentum sit this morning? >> reporter: it seems like, you know, and lauren has been reporting it. it seems like it's against santos now, the momentum is towards -- it's a wave that is going to, you know, pull him out of congress. i think that's part of why you saw -- i mean, this was a performance that he gave this morning, right? i mean, it was a pugnacious performance in, you know, the era of trumpian politics. he is trying to turn himself into a martyr and likely earn himself, you know, a paycheck after he is forced out of congress. you know, i think it's pretty transparent kinda what's going on there. that said, he is not wrong that it is a remarkable precedent to set to expel someone who has not already been convicted or -- you know, most of the expulsions of congress took place in the civil war, people literally fought for, you know, the enemy of the united states of america in its time of most difficulty. so that's true. and that's what you heard from the house speaker as well. but i do think that one of the key dynamics here is that it does show you the diminished power of leaders in congress to do stuff about this because a big part of the reason there haven't been more expulsions for situations like this is because when we have had this, the person has been informed in no uncertain terms by their leaders the right thing to do is to exit stage left immediately. and typically they have said, okay, fine, we'll do that. the leaders have had the power to get members of congress to do that, and it has not resorted to what you are seeing on your screen right now, which are the people that had to be forcibly ejected because they could not be convinced. i think it's more evidence, erica, we are living in a shame-free era in our politics. >> that's a really good point about -- usually people just resign. that has clearly not been the case. van, i was watching you -- not in a creepy way -- during that press conference. >> glad we clarified, phil. >> i was like, that sounds weird. you kinda had a look like the always sunny in philadelphia string board meme of putting together the different pieces. what was that? >> i was thinking about how much i am going to miss him. he is a mascot for america's political unseriousness and we very much need that because we -- like we act like there are people who are navigating through the country trying to make it better for us. but we are really like a bunch of little gueiant slalom, peopl not keeping their eye on the ball. i saw him with a full face of makeup on, doing this entire thing, thinking i am going to miss this guy. he was the perfect sort of underpinning of how absurd things have gotten. without that people get to feign seriousness and not actually do anything or affect anything but really be him inside. i was thinking, man, even though he is going to go on to become the greatest reality star of our time, i was thinking, i am going to miss this guy. >> you are not going to have to miss him long. i am not clear, regardless of what happens, he is actually going away in that context. a great point about what we are seeing in terms of lawmakers, right. we are in the shame free world and there have been significant questions for a number of years, best encapsulated here, what are lawmakers actually doing, right? and but i do mean that on a serious front. and looking at at what is happening this morning, you have to wonder, too, what voters are saying about this. >> certain lit. i think we live in a world where a lot of folks are running in congress to become political influencers. more and more have podcasts rather than constituent services. matt gaetz, what does he do? unclear. i do think that the expulsion resolution ends up passing. it needs a two-thirds majority road. democrats be for it. the full new york delegation is calling for this. it sets up an interesting die noom i -- dynamic in congress. speaker johnson loses one more vote. it's better he be out, one the most vulnerable lawmakers mike lawler, it's harder for him in a re-election to say, yeah, this guy is my colleague. it's in the best interest of the institution he be gron and to hold on to serious members' seats. >> i would say, you mentioned mike lawler. the vast majority of new yorkers wanted george santos to resign. he could have easily resign. that's what the vast majority of new yorkers wanted. the vast majority of republicans want him to resign. more new yorkers want him to resign than richard nixon back in 1974. you get this guy coming up with populous messages. the people are against him. not with him. this is not a hardy kwags to solve, folks. >> but van going to miss him. >> one thing the freedom caucus folks are mentioning, bob menendez is still a sitting u.s. senator. there is this question over precedent, why is this, you know, botox charges and loafers more serious than that? i think it's a valid point. >> i think probably the only fans is probably -- >> really puts you over the edge? >> okay. >> you feel like that makes him more relatable? >> no, why he encaps lats -- he is like a caricature far more real than we would like to admit about the current of state njus in washington, but general. >> people want to be inspired want to believe there is a way out to the america we are in now, and you see this and you see someone who is so clearly puts himself ahead of the interests of the country. like he is not even pretending to care about anything other than himself literally took the money that he raised and spent it on only vans and botox. that is breathtaking. everyone wants to see him gone. i want him to stay around for a while. what else could he do? >> just do it. >> you can't hide that botox. >> guys, appreciate it. lauren, harry, alyssa, ben, kasie, always a pleasure. at