Rep. George Santos remains defiant in the face of new charges that he committed fraud and embezzled money, likewise staying obstinate in the face of an effort from within his own party to expel him from Congress.
The freshman congressman — who has seemingly been under fire since the day he was elected — denied the new allegations, which number 23 in total and supersede older charges levied against him.
“I’m going to continue to fight this as much as I said in the past. Nothing has changed,” Santos (R-NY) told reporters outside his office on Wednesday, as reported by CNN. “I think I’ve made it clear that I will fight this to prove my innocence. So yeah, I’m pretty much denying every last bit of [the] charges.”
Santos also spoke about one of the charges from the earlier batch of indictments, which alleged he took too much money in unemployment benefits.
“Even if I were to have taken two checks too many, let’s make it very clear, nobody in this country gets indicted for taking a check, or two more than they are entitled to, during [an] unemployment period or in that case, in the completely extenuating circumstances of the pandemic,” Santos said, per CNN.
“You don’t indict people for that, because if you were going to indict every single American who got overpaid by unemployment benefits during the pandemic, you’d pretty much indict half the country at this point. So, you know, this is a $1,100 indictment … I can easily write that check and make the government whole,” he said.
The new charges were announced by the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Breon Peace.
“As alleged, Santos is charged with stealing people’s identities and making charges on his own donors’ credit cards without their authorization, lying to the FEC and, by extension, the public about the financial state of his campaign,” said Peace.
“Santos falsely inflated the campaign’s reported receipts with non-existent loans and contributions that were either fabricated or stolen. This Office will relentlessly pursue criminal charges against anyone who uses the electoral process as an opportunity to defraud the public and our government institutions,” Peace added.
James Smith, FBI assistant director-in-charge, said, “Santos allegedly led multiple additional fraudulent criminal schemes, lying to the American public in the process. The FBI is committed to upholding the laws of our electoral process. Anyone who attempts to violate the law as part of a political campaign will face punishment in the criminal justice system.”
Santos also faced efforts by fellow Republicans to expel him from Congress, as reported by Just the News. A resolution was introduced by Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-NY), who publicized the move via X, formerly known as Twitter.
“Today, I’ll be introducing an expulsion resolution to rid the People’s House of fraudster George Santos,” wrote D’Esposito before listing off his co-sponsors on the resolution. Four co-sponsors, all Republican representatives from New York, have signed on to the resolution.
Santos released a statement responding to the effort to oust him from his congressional seat.
“An expulsion of myself as a member of Congress before being found guilty from a criminal investigation will set a dangerous precedent. This will do nothing other than erase the voices of the electorate,” Santos said.
“Stay strong my fellow Americans and trust that the process will unfold as it should. Together, we can overcome these challenges and forge a better future for all Americans,” he added.