George Santos called on the House to censure Adam Schiff. But when his vote was needed to support the measure, he instead voted 'present'

• Rep. George Santos called on the House to censure Rep. Adam Schiff.
• "We must preserve the integrity of the US House of Representatives and censure Adam Schiff today."
• When it came time to vote, however, Santos instead voted "present."

Rep. George Santos yesterday morning called on the House of Representatives to censure Rep. Adam Schiff. Instead, he voted "present" instead of "nay" on a motion to table the censure bill.

Santos published a video to Twitter on Wednesday supporting Rep. Anna Paulina Luna's bill that would censure Rep. Adam Schiff and fine him $16 million for his work investigating former President Donald Trump. 

"To not carry out a censure would be a miscarriage of justice and a dereliction of our sworn duty as members of the House of Representatives," Santos said. "We must preserve the integrity of the US House of Representatives and censure Adam Schiff today."

In a letter to his colleagues, Schiff said the resolution was "false and defamatory."

But despite Santos' online declaration, when it came time to vote Wednesday afternoon on whether or not to table the measure, Santos didn't vote in the affirmative or negative. Instead, he voted "present."

The vote to table the bill ultimately passed with 225 "yea" votes to 196 "nay" ones after 20 Republicans aided Democrats in effectively quashing the bill. 

Republican Rep. Thomas Massie was one of the 20. He tweeted on Wednesday that he believes the proposed $16 million fine was unconstitutional and that he's "still litigating a federal lawsuit against Pelosi over a salary reduction she imposed" on him for not wearing a mask on the House floor.

After the bill was tabled, Schiff posted a video on Twitter detailing his experience of the attempt to censure him. He said that following the tabling of the bill, Luna — while on a scooter — told him that "she was going to bring back a new resolution next week and this time it would pass."

Santos' office did not respond to Insider's request for comment.