The scandals swirling around the lawmaker have pulled off the rare feat of uniting lawmakers on both sides of the aisle as they club together to have him removed.

In Thursday’s debate, Susan Wild, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, said the ethics report shows that he “repeatedly, egregiously and brazenly violated the public’s trust”.

Republican lawmakers from New York also denounced Mr Santos. Marc Molinaro accused him of denying voters “an honest choice” by allegedly lying about his background when running for Congress.

Another Republican congressman, Michael Lawler, said: “He can defend himself in the court of law, but for the purposes of this body, he’s got to go.”

There were some lawmakers who argued that he has not been convicted of any crimes and deserved “due process”.