george santos
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Geoge Santos, the CONman CONservative who CONNED his way into CONgress before he was expelled last year amid indictments on a then-growing number of federal fraud charges, is now expected to plead guilty to fraud charges in order to avoid a trial he doesn’t believe he can win due to how well-known he is. (I mean, it probably doesn’t help that he’s well-known for lying about his education, work history, charities he started and his race and ethnicity in order to take up space in the U.S. House.)
From the New York Times:
Mr. Santos arrived at federal court in Central Islip, N.Y., ahead of a 3 p.m. hearing where he is expected to enter a guilty plea and give a statement acknowledging the crimes he has agreed to plead to, according to two lawyers and two other people with knowledge of the case.
Pleading guilty would allow Mr. Santos to avoid a trial on nearly two dozen charges — including wire fraud, money laundering and stealing public funds — for which he was facing as many as 22 years in prison.
Santos was charged with a total of 23 federal counts of fraud-related activity, including charges he initially pleaded not guilty to such as allegations that he stole money from donors and lied to the government to cover it up. Santos’ trial was set to begin in a few weeks, but, on Friday, prosecutors asked presiding Judge Joanna Seybert to schedule a new pretrial meeting for Monday.
More from the Times:
Prosecutors painted Mr. Santos’s campaign as so desperate for cash that it turned to lying, cheating and stealing to finance its operations. But they also assert a pattern of self-dealing, which saw Mr. Santos repeatedly using his campaign account as a personal piggy bank.
Prosecutors said Mr. Santos used stolen credit card information from one donor to take $11,000 for his personal use. He convinced other donors to give money to what he said was a super PAC supporting his campaign. Instead, he used some of the money to buy designer clothing and pay his personal credit card bills.
On top of all that, Santos’ former campaign treasurer, Nancy Marks, previously admitted that she helped the Bernie Madoff of politics falsify a $500,000 loan to his campaign that never existed so he could qualify for financial and operational support from the Republican Party. Marks pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to defraud the United States in October and is now facing between three and four years in prison.
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Source: Win McNamee / Getty
George Santos, who was ousted from the House of Representatives, has announced that he’s running for Congress again.
On Thursday (March 7), as President Joe Biden was giving his State of the Union address, disgraced former Congressman George Santos was in attendance in the lower chamber. His presence prompted questions as to why he was there, and he answered them by declaring that he was running for Congress again in a post to X, formerly Twitter.
“Tonight, I want to announce that I will be returning to the arena of politics and challenging Nick (LaLota) for the battle over #NY1,” Santos tweeted. “I look forward to debating him on the issues and on his weak record as a Republican. The fight for our majority is imperative for the survival of the country.”
Santos became the third House member ever to be expelled by his peers last December after being indicted on 23 counts for multiple federal crimes including identity theft, money laundering and theft of public funds. A further investigation by the House Ethics Committee resulted in a 56-page report detailing the misuse of campaign funds totaling $50,000, which included purchases at Sephora, Hermes, and an OnlyFans subscription. Before that, Santos was revealed to have lied extensively about his background, including claiming to have worked at Goldman Sachs and having a grandparent who died in the Holocaust.
“Representative George Santos cannot be trusted. At nearly every opportunity, he placed his desire for private gain above his duty to uphold the Constitution, federal law, and ethical principles,” the report said. At the time of his expulsion, Santos went on record saying, “To hell with this place.” A special election for his seat was held in February, with Democrat Tom Suozzi achieving victory.
The current Representative, Nick LaLota, is a first-time Congressman representing the district which is next door to the one Santos represented before his expulsion. The Suffolk County, Long Island, district has historically been a solidly Republican one in recent years. Santos filed with the Federal Election Commission, expressing intent to run in the GOP primary in June. In his post on X, LaLota responded:
“If finishing the job requires beating him in a primary, count me in.”
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Source: @ziwef / Instagram
Expelled Republican congressman George Santos sat down for an outlandish interview with Ziwe that had social media in shambles.The controversial former Republican George Santos sat down for a highly anticipated interview with the comedian and celebrity interviewer Ziwe, who released it in full on Monday morning (December 18) on her YouTube channel. The “ZNN” (for Ziwe News Network) interview ran for twenty minutes. It contained several moments that left viewers with a mixture of emotions ranging from stunned to appalled at Santos’ shamelessness.
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Santos didn’t hold back in response to one of Ziwe’s questions. “What can we do to get you to go away?”, she asked. “Stop inviting me to your gigs,” he retorted. “The lesson is to stop inviting you places,” Ziwe said in response. “But you can’t,” Santos replied. “Because people want the content.” Other highlights from the interview included an exchange where Ziwe asked Santos his opinions on LGBTQ icons such as Marsha P. Johnson (as he compared himself to civil rights icon Rosa Parks in the past) – which took a turn as Santos was asked about the late author James Baldwin. “Who the hell is James Baldwin?”, he replied.
Many who watched the interview noted that Santos was careful to answer anything related to his current status of negotiating a plea deal with the Department of Justice over charges that he defrauded campaign donors. He was the sixth congressperson ever expelled in November after the House Ethics Committee alleged that he spent donations on items from Hermès, Ferragamo, and also on cosmetic procedures and OnlyFans. At one point before the interview took place, Santos was overheard asking the comedian to “be mindful with the DOJ stuff.”
Others felt that Ziwe did wrong in giving Santos more coverage with the interview. Santos had been approached by Ziwe on X, formerly known as Twitter the day after his expulsion from the House of Representatives. She asked if he’d be interested in a “pay-per-view” interview. He accepted, and though he wasn’t paid for the interview it was noted on the video that he asked to be paid three times. Currently, Santos is a top draw on Cameo, the website that offers people customized celebrity videos for a price.
We’ve assembled some of the more notable reactions from social media, primarily X for you to check out below.
1. Balkanka
This X user utilized a video of Azealia Banks and a unique display of smudging with their post.
2. Spencer Althouse
The deputy editor at Buzzfeed applauded Ziwe’s skillful baiting of Santos in one segment of the interview.
3. Whitley
This X user named Whitley had a succinct remedy to get people to ignore Santos.
4. Joey Hannum
The comm strategist wrote, “What excites you most about going to prison… Do you like the color orange?” give Ziwe a Pulitzer I’m so serious.”
5. Sana Saeed
The media critic took a different perspective on “that’ moment of the interview.
6. Gemini’s Groove
7. Ola Ojewumi
The writer raised a valid point about Ziwe not asking Santos key questions about previous lies he has told in the past, especially one where he claimed to be Black.
8. Armand Domalewski
9. Tami Sawyer
The Democratic politician expressed her dismay at Santos getting such a platform in light of his criminal misdeeds.
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