George Santos has done a lot of deeply fucked-up stuff in his 30-something years on earth—from lying about his grandparents fleeing Hitler and falsely claiming he employed four peopled who died in the Pulse nightclub shooting, to allegedly ripping off a homeless veteran and the guy’s dying dog—but he’s also been the source of a tremendous amount of unintentional hilarity. Just a few of the laughs include: reportedly telling a roommate he was a male model who was going to appear in Vogue, claiming to have been a star player on the Baruch College volleyball team, and telling people he’d been a producer of the musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark. Also: thinking he could actually win a second term in Congress!
Yes, CNN reports that Santos, a professional liar who may soon be on the receiving end of one or more criminal indictments—on top of the charges he was hit with in Brazil in 2011 and Pennsylvania in 2017—apparently believes he could not only ride out this current term but run for and win another one. (Santos has claimed he never committed a crime, despite previously admitting to fraud in Brazil. The Pennsylvania charges were dropped, though the lawyer who represented him now says she doesn’t believe the story he told her claiming his innocence.) “After previously signaling to Republicans he wouldn’t seek reelection, Santos has recently been telling people he is considering running for a second term,” Republican sources told CNN. The New York congressman has also “privately insist[ed] he will ultimately be cleared of all wrongdoing and that his treasurer will face scrutiny over his finances.” (Santos’s former treasurer, Nancy Marks, resigned last month. Among so many other things, there have been questions about the lawmaker’s campaign finances, including both the source of his donations and what he spent the money on.) “Let me be very clear, I’m not leaving, I’m not hiding and I am NOT backing down,” Santos tweeted Tuesday. “I will continue to work for #NY03 and no amount of Twitter trolling will stop me. I’m looking forward to getting what needs to be done, DONE!”
Last week, the Federal Election Commission ordered the GOP congressman to formally state if he plans to run in 2024, after he breached a postelection fundraising threshold that requires a formal declaration of his intent. In a letter, the commission wrote that Santos has until March 14 to “either disavow these (fundraising and spending) activities by notifying the Commission in writing that you are not a candidate, or redesignate your principal campaign committee by filing a Statement of Candidacy.”
Unsurprisingly, a number of people in Congress aren’t thrilled by the prospect of Santos not only completing his current term but running for another one. On Wednesday, Democrat Ritchie Torres, who represents New York’s 15th Congressional District, tweeted, “Santos is telling advisors that he wishes to serve a 2nd term, despite previously promising that he wouldn’t run for reelection. Do you think a pathological liar & lawbreaker like George Santos has any business being a lawmaker for even 1 term, let alone 2?”
Meanwhile, New York Republicans are not jazzed about the news either. Per CNN:
In New York, senior Republicans are beginning to reach out to potential primary challengers to topple Santos if he attempts to hang on to his seat…Part of the reason for the sense of urgency: Several New York freshmen—who were responsible for giving the GOP a House majority—will be vulnerable in 2024 and want to be talking about anyone other than Santos next year.
“George Santos will not be on any ticket in 2024,” said Rep. Marc Molinaro, a New York GOP freshman, who has said he’d vote to expel Santos if a resolution to kick him out of Congress came to the floor. “I am confident that George Santos will not be on any ticket come 2024,” added Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, a fellow Republican freshman who represents a neighboring Long Island district. “I am confident that we’ll do everything in our power to make sure we have the right candidate, the honest candidate, the truthful candidate, and the one who was honest about his entire being.”
“The longer he stays in there, the worse this is for Republicans on Long Island,” former representative Peter King told CNN. “We have local elections (in New York) coming up. The last thing we want to be doing is running with George Santos over our head.”
Last week, two House Democrats introduced a resolution to expel Santos from Congress, and while, per CNN, multiple New York Republicans have said they would vote for the measure, it’s not clear it would garner the two-thirds majority necessary for the House to rid itself of the guy.
In extremely related news, on Thursday The Daily Beast reported that even though he lost his first bid for Congress in 2020 by more than 12 points, Santos raised thousands for a recount that never happened. “George Santos’ lies and corruption know no bounds. He set up a sham recount fund—for a recount that never happened. Then, he illegally used that money to offset costs for his 2022 campaign,” finance-reform group End Citizens United told The Daily Beast. “It’s yet another blatant violation of the law, which is why we’re asking the FEC to begin an investigation and also hand all relevant material to the DOJ for their investigation.”
Surprise: “One or more witnesses” many have lied to the Georgia grand jury investigating Trump’s attempt to overturn the election
Something you’ve probably noticed about former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump is that he lies about everything all the time. Whether it’s claiming that Ivanka Trump personally created 14 million jobs or that the sound from windmills causes cancer, the man clearly has some kind of physical ailment that prevents him from telling the truth. And it turns out some of his buddies might suffer from the same condition!
On Thursday, a Georgia judge released an excerpt of a report created by a special grand jury tasked with investigating efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election in the state. While the group’s specific recommendations for who should be charged were not revealed, the report contained two big takeaways: One, that despite the ex-president’s claims, there absolutely was not “widespread fraud” in Georgia’s 2020 presidential election, and two, that one or more people appear to have lied to the jury, which is, yes, a crime.
“A majority of the Grand Jury believes that perjury may have been committed by one or more witnesses testifying before it,” the group wrote. “The Grand Jury recommends that the District Attorney seek appropriate indictments for such crimes where the evidence is compelling.” According to The Washington Post, the grand jury spoke to 75 witnesses, including Lindsey Graham, Rudy Giuliani, and Georgia governor Brian Kemp. Obviously, it’s possible that the people the jury believes committed perjury are not pals of Trump, though some of those allies are the ones that, like Trump, have a documented history of making false claims or being totally fine with high-ranking individuals telling them. The Post notes that Giuliani is one of at least 18 people who have been notified they are targets of the criminal probe being conducted by the Fulton County district attorney’s office—which had made the request to impanel the special grand jury. The outlet also reports that last month, Trump’s attorneys “implied in a statement that there had been no formal contact between the former president and his legal team and Fulton County prosecutors,” but did not respond when asked if the ex-president had “been given notice that he is a target of the investigation.”
Speaking of which, Fulton County district attorney Fani Willis—who launched her investigation shortly after Trump’s infamous call with Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, in which Trump demanded Raffensperger “find” the exact number of votes he need to beat Joe Biden in the state—has said that charging decisions in the case are “imminent.” Last fall, she told the Post that “If indicted and convicted, people are facing prison sentences.” Possibly not just for trying to overturn the election, but for lying about it too!
Uh cool this clears up a lot
