America's #1 Online Cigar Auction
first, best, biggest!

Can't find that anything is really going on.
Anyone from his district?
If so, what do you think?

I read they is returning their Bar Mitzvah gifts

Sickens me. Must enrage his district. Cannot believe there isn't a majority of the Congress that feels he should be gone. Perhaps they are waiting on an investigation. Due process and all the other House Rules?

Just read that the House has been investigating him since early March Then we will have proven facts (not unproven accusations) to throw him out or for them to recall him. On the other hand, it could take the remainder of his term to complete a formal investigative report. Wonder what percentage of Americans think he should be gone?

Since he is Republican - doesn't that make the investigation a Witch Hunt?

I’m with Jamie on this. Really doesn’t matter what anybody except the voters in his district think.

Santos surrendered himself to authorities on Wednesday and is currently in custody at a federal courthouse, the NYT reports.

He's been hit with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public goods and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.

The decision by federal prosecutors to take action against Mr. Santos marked a precipitous turn in the fortunes of a first-term congressman who went from a symbol of Republican resurgence to a scandal-plagued political punching bag.

Mr. Santos has been besieged by questions about his background, his personal wealth and his campaign finances since last December, when The New York Times and other outlets began reporting on numerous lies about his biography, education and work history that he had told voters on the campaign trial. -NYT

Santos has denied any criminal wrongdoing.

* * *

Federal prosecutors have filed charges against first-term New York Rep. George Santos, who's infamous for having stacked up lie upon lie about his personal history, and for allegations of financial misconduct prior to taking office. Citing "three sources familiar with the matter," CNN was first to report this development on Tuesday.

Despite House votes on the schedule for Tuesday evening, Santos was on his way to New York, and reporters observed four of his staffers abruptly departing his congressional office with their bags. So far, Santos, his representatives and the Justice Department have all declined requests for comment. He may appear in federal court in the Eastern District of New York as early as Wednesday.

It's not clear what crimes Santos will be charged with, in part because there's so much on the menu:

"During his brief time in office, Santos has been accused of breaking campaign finance laws, violating federal conflict of interest laws, stealing cash meant for an Iraq War veteran’s dying dog, masterminding a credit card fraud scheme and lying about where he went to school and worked." - CNN

Santos won the first-ever congressional election featuring a feisty tussle between two openly gay men (Mary Altaffer/AP via NBC News)

The House ethics committee has been probing Santos's financial disclosure forms, whether he violated conflict-of-interest laws or otherwise broke laws associated with his congressional campaign in which he scored a mild upset to represent parts of Long Island and Queens.

In December, the New York Times published a damning exposé revealing that Santos had apparently fabricated his life story. After the initial report, even more falsehoods came to light. His seeming lies include:

Claiming he earned degrees in economics and finance from Baruch College and New York University.
Claiming he became "an associate asset manager" in Citigroup's real estate division
Claiming he worked at Goldman Sachs
Saying he was founder and leader of a "Friends of Pets United," a supposed tax-exempt organization.
Claiming his family owns a 13-property real estate portfolio
Denying he'd been a drag queen
Calling himself "a proud American Jew"

The openly gay Santos even claimed his company "lost four employees" in the June 2016 mass shooting at the gay Pulse nightclub. He didn't specify the company, and the Times couldn't find any overlap between profiles of the 49 dead at the bar and any of the companies Santos claimed to have worked for.

Probing his past in Brazil, the Times also unearthed criminal charges against Santos -- and a confession -- over an incident in which "he stole the checkbook of a man his mother was caring for."

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/rep-george-santos-charged-federal-crimes-may-appear-court-wednesday

His real crime though was pretending to be a Republican! Watch, we'll find out he's Barney Frank's lovechild

That’s just a MAGA extremist conspiracy theory.

Hunter has been busy showing the shortcomings of the justice system, the failure of the war on drugs, the inefficiency of gun laws and support free agent models in his spare time. He’s a real renaissance man. Even put in some serious work giving his SIL a shoulder to lean on in her mourning.

The rest of the family is just part of the Biden foreign affairs committee that’s been reaching out to foreign powers to grow joint economic venture to grow our cultures closer.

I heard he doesn't like girls much.

See ya...


George Santos Faces 13 Felony Charges, Including Fraud and Money Laundering

Republican congressman from Long Island pleads not guilty in federal court

WSJ
Rep. George Santos, accused of fabricating much of his life’s story to secure public office, was indicted Wednesday on federal charges that he embezzled contributions, fraudulently obtained unemployment benefits and filed false federal disclosure forms.

The New York Republican, who was elected last year to represent parts of Long Island and Queens in Congress, surrendered to authorities Wednesday morning and pleaded not guilty in federal court in Central Islip, N.Y., in the afternoon. A 13-count indictment charged Mr. Santos with seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House of Representatives.

Breon Peace, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, whose office brought the charges, said the congressman relied on “repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself.”

Standing outside the courthouse, Mr. Santos, wearing a navy blazer over a sweater, said he would fight to clear his name. “I will not resign,” he said, adding he would return to the nation’s capital for planned votes on Thursday.

Rep. George Santos said he would fight to clear his name and wouldn’t resign. PHOTO: JUSTIN LANE/SHUTTERSTOCK
U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne Shields said Mr. Santos would be released on a $500,000 bond, for which she required three cosigners.

Joe Murray, Mr. Santos’s lawyer, told the judge that Mr. Santos needed to travel because he was running for re-election. “Just to have freedom to engage in that election activity,” Mr. Murray said.

Judge Shields restricted his travel to New York City, Long Island and Washington, D.C., but said he could travel throughout the U.S. with prior permission. She ordered him to return to court on June 30.

The 34-year-old lawmaker has acknowledged misleading voters in the past but has said he didn’t commit any crime.

The charges come as Mr. Santos has faced months of mounting accusations that he lied to voters about his personal and professional experience, on issues big and small. Among his alleged falsehoods, Mr. Santos has claimed without evidence that his mother was at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, that he was a star player on his college volleyball team and that he founded a charity that rescued 2,500 dogs and cats.

He has acknowledged lying about whether he graduated from Baruch College, and admitted that he was never an employee of Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, as he previously claimed.

Mr. Santos has defended his experience in the financial-services sector, saying in one interview: “I did work in the industry for a number of years.”

Federal prosecutors alleged that Mr. Santos engaged in three fraudulent schemes. In one, while running for Congress, he directed a political consultant to falsely tell prospective donors that their contributions would help elect Mr. Santos to the House, prosecutors said, when in reality, the money was transferred to Mr. Santos’s personal bank account. He used it to pay personal debts and make non-campaign purchases, including designer clothing, they alleged.

The indictment also accuses Mr. Santos of fraudulently receiving more than $24,000 in unemployment insurance benefits. At the time that Mr. Santos applied for the benefits in New York and claimed he was without a job, he was working for a Florida-based investment company called Harbor City Capital, which paid him a salary of approximately $120,000 a year, prosecutors said.

The Securities and Exchange Commission in a 2021 civil lawsuit accused Harbor City Capital of being a Ponzi scheme. As a result of the suit, the company is now in receivership. The receiver, Katherine Donlon, declined to comment.

Finally, prosecutors said, Mr. Santos lied on 2020 and 2022 House disclosure forms, which he filed in connection with two campaigns for office. Mr. Santos overstated his income, failed to disclose his salary from an investment firm and lied about deposits in bank accounts, among other things, according to prosecutors.

In addition to Wednesday’s indictment, Mr. Santos faces scrutiny from local prosecutors and the House Ethics Committee, which has said its wide-ranging investigation includes whether Mr. Santos broke the law by violating federal conflict-of-interest rules and engaging in sexual misconduct with someone who was seeking employment in his office.

Mr. Santos has previously said he was cooperating with the committee probe.

Despite the charges, Mr. Santos is permitted to remain in Congress. Under House GOP conference rules, a lawmaker can stay in office while under investigation or after an indictment, but must resign from committee posts. While he was technically assigned committees, he was never formally placed on them. After several investigations were announced, Mr. Santos said he would not serve on any committees. If lawmakers are convicted, they are expected to resign.

Mr. Santos said in a January podcast that he wouldn’t resign. “I was elected by 142,000 people, and until those same 142,000 people tell me they don’t want me—we’ll find out in two years,” he said.

National Republican leadership has largely backed Mr. Santos’s intention to remain in Congress.

“In America you are innocent until proven guilty,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) said on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R., N.Y.), who backed Mr. Santos’s campaign in 2022, said the legal process would play itself out.

“Unfortunately this is not the first time a member of Congress from either party has been indicted,” she said.

In New York, many top Republicans have already pulled their support for Mr. Santos. “The writing has been on the wall for months: George Santos will not be a member of the next Congress,” Republican State Committee Chairman Ed Cox said Wednesday.

New York state Democratic Committee Chairman Jay Jacobs said he expected Mr. Santos might use his resignation from Congress as a bargaining chip in a plea deal, as was the case with former GOP Rep. Chris Collins. Mr. Collins was re-elected in 2018 while under indictment but resigned a year later—the day before he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and lying to the FBI as part of his role in an insider-trading scheme.

“This starts the clock, because I don’t see how he can last much longer,” Mr. Jacobs said.

Get your money for nothing...

So...if he earns is felony merit badge, can he run against Trump?

it's true to an extent - the Right has no problem with his criminality do they?

I dunno - could be another witch hunt.....

And it doesn't look like Right is interested in impeachment.

It’s New York. The district needs to impeach him. Not a right/left issue.

George Santos Faces Growing Calls for Expulsion After Damning Ethics Report

House committee says Republican lawmaker ‘blatantly stole’ from own campaign


WSJ
WASHINGTON—The House Ethics Committee said Thursday that it found substantial evidence that Rep. George Santos (R., N.Y.) stole money from his campaign and committed other misdeeds, igniting new calls for his immediate expulsion by colleagues and prompting the embattled lawmaker to say he won’t run for re-election.

“Representative Santos sought to fraudulently exploit every aspect of his House candidacy for his own personal financial profit” and “blatantly stole from his campaign,” the committee’s report said. The committee said Santos’s conduct “warrants public condemnation, is beneath the dignity of the office, and has brought severe discredit upon the House.”

The Ethics Committee, led by Chairman Michael Guest (R., Miss.) and ranking member Susan Wild (D., Pa.), said it concluded that there was substantial evidence that Santos knowingly caused his campaign committee to file false reports with the Federal Election Commission; used campaign funds for personal purposes; engaged in fraudulent conduct in connection with Santos-linked campaign company RedStone Strategies LLC; and filed false financial disclosure statements.

While the committee was unsparing in its descriptions of Santos’s “grave” actions and urged lawmakers to take appropriate action, it stopped short of directly calling for Santos to be expelled.

The report said Santos improperly used campaign donations to pay off his credit cards, purchase Botox treatments and buy goods and services at Hermès, Sephora and OnlyFans. The report said that RedStone, which solicited campaign donations but wasn’t registered to do so, paid Santos more than $176,000, according to a tax form that termed it nonemployee compensation.

Santos dismissed the report, calling it a “disgusting politicized smear” in a post on social media. He said he would remain in office “up until I am allowed” but wouldn’t stand for re-election in 2024, saying his “family deserves better than to be under the gun from the press all the time.” Lawmakers declined to expel him from Congress in a vote earlier this month. Santos, 35 years old, had faced almost no chance of re-election in his district, which includes parts of Long Island and Queens.

Santos’s fate in Congress has been up in the air since it was disclosed in late 2022—shortly after he was elected—that he had made up aspects of his personal history, ranging from his employment history at Wall Street banks to his family’s connection to events such as the Holocaust and Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

New York federal prosecutors later charged Santos with an array of crimes, including for allegedly scamming political donors, lying to the Federal Election Commission and illegally receiving unemployment insurance benefits. He pleaded not guilty to a 23-count superseding indictment. He is scheduled to go on trial in September.

Lawmakers who sit on a House Ethics subcommittee have been investigating the allegations against Santos since February.

Committee investigators said that Santos didn’t provide all of the information they requested during their review, contradicting his intentions to clear his name, they said. Investigators said they considered whether to subpoena Santos but determined that it could delay their report and that his testimony “would have low evidentiary value given his admitted practice of embellishment.”

The report also highlighted an incident with his campaign staff who in December 2021, nearly a year before his election, presented him a 141-page report raising questions about his college degrees and money management background. They encouraged him to drop out of the race; three staffers quit when he declined to do so.

Ethics Committee members said in the report that they encouraged House members to read the report and to “take any action they deem appropriate and necessary…to fulfill the House’s Constitutional mandate to police the conduct of its members.”

Guest, the Ethics Committee chairman, said he plans to file an expulsion resolution on Friday. Wild, the top Democrat on the panel, said she would also back expulsion.

The evidence “is more than sufficient to warrant punishment, and the most appropriate punishment is expulsion,” Guest said in a statement.

The report’s findings boosted support in the House for removing Santos, a step that most members were unwilling to take earlier this month when five New York Republicans forced a vote on the issue.

That earlier vote fell well short of the two-thirds required to remove him from office, with 179 in favor and 213 against. Many lawmakers at the time said any such move should wait until after his criminal case is resolved or the House Ethics Committee has completed its probe. With the report now released, opposition to expulsion appeared to melt away among both Democrats and Republicans.

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R., N.Y.), who voted against the earlier measure, said: “In light of this report, Santos should resign or face expulsion.” Rep. Ashley Hinson (R., Iowa) said she would also now back expulsion, given the “thorough and damning” report.

Rep. Gerry Connolly (D., Va.), who voted “present” previously, said that Santos should be expelled “without delay.” He said Santos “has used up every bit of due process he is owed.”

Only two House lawmakers since the Civil War have been expelled. Rep. Michael Myers (D., Pa.) was expelled in 1980 after being convicted on charges of bribery and conspiracy in the Abscam sting, in which Federal Bureau of Investigation operatives posed as Arab sheikhs seeking favors from members of Congress. Rep. James Traficant (D., Ohio) was expelled in 2002 after being convicted on felony counts including taking bribes and filing false tax returns.

A former Santos aide pleaded guilty to wire fraud Tuesday for impersonating a high-ranking House staffer while fundraising, the second known associate to admit to crimes related to the Santos’s campaign activities. Samuel Miele entered the plea at a Long Island federal courthouse. Prosecutors said he also admitted that he charged credit cards without authorization for contributions to the campaigns of Santos and other candidates, as well as for his own personal use.

Nancy Marks, Santos’s former campaign treasurer, pleaded guilty in October to helping him submit reports to the FEC that inflated fundraising numbers, so he could qualify for a GOP candidate-support program. Prosecutors have also charged Santos with the scheme.


Still think this is political vs. criminal?