George Santos Has Been Charged by the Justice Department

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The Justice Department on Wednesday unsealed federal charges against Rep. George Santos and the New York Republican is in custody.

Santos, whose astonishing pattern of lies and fabrications stunned even hardened politicos, has been charged on a 13-count indictment, including 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.

He was taken into custody in Melville on Long Island, where the FBI is housed, a law enforcement source told CNN. From there, he was taken to the courthouse in Central Islip.

Santos is expected to appear later Wednesday at federal court in New York’s Eastern District.

The congressman’s attorney declined to comment to CNN on Tuesday. Spokespeople for the Brooklyn US Attorney’s Office, the Justice Department and the FBI declined to comment.

Santos was en route back to New York Tuesday night, skipping House votes for the evening, according to a source familiar.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said that he will look at the charges before determining if he thinks Santos should be removed from Congress.

“I’ll look at the charges,” the California Republican told CNN on Tuesday.

Santos was spotted by CNN in the Capitol earlier in the day on his way in and out of McCarthy’s office. The speaker said he did not know why Santos had been there, and that the congressman had not told him personally about the charges.

New York Republicans have sought to distance themselves from Santos, insisting they knew nothing about his shadowy past and some repeatedly urging him to leave office.

“I reiterate my call for George Santos to step down,” New York Rep. Mike Lawler said in a statement. Lawler flipped a Democratic-held seat north of New York City last year and is expected to face a serious challenge in 2024.

Republicans from more conservative districts were less explicit.

New York Rep. Nicole Malliotakis told CNN, “I’m not surprised. I understand this is where it was headed,” but stopped short of asking Santos to resign.

“I would love to see someone new run because I can tell you that we will hold that seat and so the sooner Santos leaves, the sooner we can get someone in there that is not a liar,” the Staten Island Republican said.

GOP Reps. Ryan Zinke of Montana and Blake Moore of Utah pointed to the House Ethics Committee’s probe of Santos.

“Let the ethics investigation play out, and if it produces anything, he should be removed,” Moore said.

Zinke told CNN that “if there is a charge and the charge has veracity, (the Ethics Committee) should look at it.”

“I’m surprised (Santos) made it as long as he did,” said Zinke, who resigned from his position leading the Department of the Interior during the Trump administration amid multiple probes. (An inspector general report later found he misused his position.)

Arkansas Rep. French Hill, who is close to House GOP leadership, said he wanted to see the charges but added, “I do believe that if a member of Congress is charged with a federal crime they should resign.”

Democrats, meanwhile, are attempting to shake off the embarrassment of not exposing Santos sooner ahead of what promises to be an expensive race to win back his and other neighboring seats in 2024.

“Now that Santos has been indicted, it is incumbent on Speaker Kevin McCarthy to eliminate the stain of Santos on this hallowed institution by removing him from Congress immediately,” New York Rep. Daniel Goldman, a former federal prosecutor and counsel in Trump’s first impeachment, said in a statement. “We cannot wait any longer.”

The charges do not, from a legal standpoint, affect Santos’ status as a member of Congress. Nothing in the Constitution’s requirements for congressional office bars individuals under criminal indictment or conviction from serving, except for the 14th Amendment prohibitions for certain treasonous conduct committed after a member has taken the oath of office.

Under the formal rules for the US House of Representatives, according to a Congressional Research Service report, “an indicted Member may continue to participate in congressional proceedings and considerations.”

However, if a member is convicted of a crime that could result in a punishment of two or more years in prison, they are instructed under House rules not to participate in votes on the floor or in committee votes.

McCarthy, when asked whether he would continue to stand by Santos, told CNN Tuesday his policy is that a member of Congress should resign after being found guilty of charges and referenced former GOP Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, who resigned after being convicted of concealing information and making false statements to federal authorities in connection with a probe into illegal campaign contributions.

“Just like we had before with Jeff Fortenberry, he had the same ability, I removed him from committees, but he was found guilty and then I told him he needed to resign. That is my policies and principles on this,” McCarthy said

Rep. George Santos pleaded not guilty Wednesday to 13 federal charges including fraud and lying to Congress.

The charges mark a significant escalation in the many legal and ethical probes the fabulist Republican lawmaker has faced since taking office. Breon Peace, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement that the charges against Santos aim to hold the freshman lawmaker accountable for numerous alleged "fraudulent schemes and brazen misrepresentations."

"Taken together, the allegations in the indictment charge Santos with relying on repeated dishonesty and deception to ascend to the halls of Congress and enrich himself," Peace said.

Santos’ lawyer, Joseph Murray, said the Republican lawmaker plans to continue his reelection campaign and asked the judge for permission to travel freely, though he did surrender his passport.

Fraud charges
Santos allegedly transferred money from political donors into personal bank accounts during his campaign, using the funds for personal expenses, according to the Justice Department. He withdrew cash, discharged personal debts, transferred money to his associates and used the funds to make personal purchases, including of designer clothing, the DOJ claims.

Unemployment insurance
The DOJ also alleged Santos committed unemployment insurance fraud by applying for benefits through the New York State Department of Labor in June 2020, even though he was employed. He allegedly fraudulently received more than $24,000 in unemployment insurance benefits as a result.

"From that point until April 2021 — when Santos was working and receiving a salary on a near-continuous basis and during his unsuccessful run for Congress — he falsely affirmed each week that he was eligible for unemployment benefits when he was not," the department said.

False statements to Congress
Santos also made efforts to mislead the U.S. House and the public about his financial condition in connection with his two congressional campaigns, the DOJ claims.

In March 2020, during his first House campaign, the DOJ alleges Santos falsely claimed in House disclosures that his only earned income — consisting of salary, commission and bonuses — amounted to $55,000 from an unnamed company. He also allegedly said the only compensation exceeding $5,000 was an unspecified commission bonus from that company.

But the Justice Department claims that in actuality, Santos "overstated the income he received from Company #2 and altogether failed to disclose the salary he received from Investment Firm #1."

During the 2022 midterms, the DOJ alleges that Santos made false claims in another disclosure form by including money he did not actually receive and by failing to disclose income and benefits he did receive.

Criticism, calls for expulsion
Ed Cox, head of New York's Republican Party, said in a statement to USA TODAY that the "story of George Santos is over."

"The writing has been on the wall for months: George Santos will not be a member of the next Congress," Cox said. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries used Santos' arrest to criticize the Republican Party.

"The party of George Santos and Marjorie Taylor Greene cannot be trusted to govern," Jeffries said, citing the controversial Georgia Rep. Greene. "Not now. Not ever."

Rep. Tony Gonzales, R-Texas, on Wednesday called for Santos' immediate expulsion from Congress.

"The people of New York’s 3rd district deserve a voice in congress," Gonzales said in a tweet. "George Santos should be immediately expelled from Congress and a special election initiated at the soonest possible date."

During a press gaggle on Air Force One, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to comment on Santos' case, calling the Justice Department "independent." She also demurred on whether Santos should be expelled from Congress.

"That's something for the House conference to decide on...how they want to show to the American people what they want their conference to look like, that's up to them," she said.

^^
Yeah, it's not surprising Santos is "playing the victim."

A day after New York Rep. George Santos pleaded not guilty to charges in the U.S., he signed an agreement Thursday with public prosecutors in Brazil to avoid prosecution for forging two stolen checks in 2008.

“What would have been the start of a case was ended today,” Santos’ lawyer in Brazil, Jonymar Vasconcelos, told The Associated Press in a text message. “As such, my client is no longer the subject of any case in Brazil.”

Asked about the details of the non-prosecution agreement, Vasconcelos demurred, citing the fact the case proceeded under seal. The public prosecutors’ office of Rio de Janeiro state also declined to comment when contacted by the AP.

Court records in Brazil, first uncovered by The New York Times, show Santos was the subject of a criminal charge for using two stolen checks to buy items at a shop in the city of Niteroi, including a pair of sneakers that he gifted to a friend. At the time, Santos would have been 19. The purchase totaled 2,144 Brazilian reais, then equal to about $1,350, according to the charge prosecutors filed in 2011.

Per terms of the non-prosecution agreement, Santos will pay 24,000 reais (almost $5,000), with the majority going to the shopkeeper who received the bad checks and the remainder to charities, newspaper Folha de S.Paulo reported, without saying how it obtained the information. Santos attended the meeting virtually, the paper reported. The Washington Post also reported on the agreement, saying Santos was given 30 days to pay the victim and citing court officials as saying the case won’t be dismissed until he does so.

Resolution of the case removes the possibility Santos might have been obliged to travel to another country to resolve pending charges; that could have been been complicated after he was forced to surrender his passport after recent charges in the U.S.

House Republicans plan to vote Wednesday evening on a motion to refer a Democratic-sponsored resolution to expel Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., to the Ethics Committee.

The resolution was introduced on Tuesday by Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., and is privileged, which means Republican leaders must schedule a vote by Thursday.

Republicans will try to bypass a vote on the bill itself, however, by referring it to the House Committee on Ethics, which has been investigating Santos since early March.

House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., sent out a notice Wednesday telling lawmakers that they would vote on a motion to refer the resolution to the Ethics panel around 5 p.m.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. — who said last week that he would not back Santos' re-election bid — said Tuesday night that he preferred that approach rather than a floor vote to expel Santos from Congress.

Garcia called McCarthy's approach "a cop-out" at a press conference on Wednesday morning. "This is already in the Ethics Committee," Garcia said. "We want an actual vote on the expulsion."

Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., a former federal prosecutor, suggested that the Ethics Committee wouldn't take any action on the resolution, and instead defer to the Department of Justice, which last week charged Santos with a 13-count indictment.

"Prosecutors are going to ask the Ethics Committee to pause and let their prosecution go first," he said. "That’s what I did for 10 years, that is the nature of how these things work. And traditionally, the Ethics Committee will defer to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution and Kevin McCarthy knows that."

Goldman said this tactic is a way for Republicans avoiding accountability on the expulsion measure.

Santos' congressional office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.