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George Santos, the serial fabulist who was expelled from the House in December, is set to attend the State of the Union in a crystal blazer.
“After three months away from this place, I figured I’d come visit and watch the SOTU and update my ‘friends’ in the media about my new plans for public office,” Mr Santos told Axios.
Farnoush Amiri of the Associated Press noted on X: “According to House rules, any former lawmaker can maintain their floor privileges unless they are a lobbyist, foreign agent, have a direct interest in the bill being considered at the time, or have been convicted of a crime in relation to their election or service.”
Mr Santos was ousted from Congress on 1 December after an Ethics Committee report found that there was “substantial evidence” that he had “knowingly caused his campaign committee to file false or incomplete reports with the Federal Election Commission; used campaign funds for personal purposes; engaged in fraudulent conduct in connection with RedStone Strategies LLC; and engaged in knowing and willful violations of the Ethics in Government Act as it relates to his Financial Disclosure (FD) Statements filed with the House”.
The report revealed that Mr Santos had spent around $6,000 in campaign donations at the luxury brand Ferragamo and Botox injections, according to campaign spreadsheets. It was also reported that campaign funds were used for OnlyFans subscriptions – the site best known for hosting adult content.
Mr Santos, 35, was elected to Congress in 2022 after a failed attempt in 2020. After his election win – but before he was sworn in as a member of Congress – stories began to appear in The North Shore Leader and The New York Times outlining how large parts of his resume were made up, including his job and education history.
It later emerged that Mr Santos told lies about his mother dying on 9/11 and his grandparents being Holocaust survivors. In May, Mr Santos was charged with 13 charges in a Long Island federal court and, in October, was hit with a superseding indictment listing 23 counts. He initially pleaded not guilty to all charges, but he’s now in talks for a possible plea deal.
More follows…