Congress Member George Santos, who has made lying his own personal art form, finally got snared in the web of deceit which he spun the past three years.
Santos was arraigned in a Central Islip federal courtroom on Wednesday after being indicted on an array of serious criminal charges including fraud, money laundering, theft of public funds and false statements.
After being exposed initially in a New York Times report last December, mere weeks after being elected to represent New York’s 3rd District on Capitol Hill, Santos admitted to fabricating his resumé and lying to voters, but acted as if the deception was no big deal.
Nothing matters, so it seems to Santos and too many other members of the Party of Trump. These days, it’s as if Republicans will elect and support anyone with a pulse, regardless of their personal character, as long as they stay true to the party platform of winning elections, “owning the libs” and advancing radicalism.
But a federal grand jury didn’t agree with their overt cynicism and contempt. The Justice Department didn’t agree. And the law itself didn’t agree.
The charges against Santos are incredibly damning. He’s accused of fraudulently obtaining tens of thousands of dollars in New York state unemployment benefits in 2020 while simultaneously running for Congress that year in a losing effort to the then-incumbent Tom Suozzi.
Santos allegedly siphoned off tens of thousands dollars more in campaign contributions into his own personal bank account. Meanwhile, in a truly Trumpian way of doing business, the feds allege that Santos made numerous, patently false campaign financial filings to Congress that grossly exaggerated his net worth.
That $750,000 salary Santos claimed to have earned from his private company, the Devolder Organization LLC? A sham.
His claim that he had earned up to $5 million in dividends from the Devolder Organization? A crock.
His claim that he had bank accounts with assets of between $100,000 and $5 million? Complete bull manure.
For the last four months, Santos has been accepting a Congressional salary, along with benefits and perks, paid for by the taxpayer. While claiming to prove his worth through his work for the district, he has instead taken on the role of right-wing circus clown in the style of Marjorie Taylor Greene and Matt Gaetz — sponsoring a bill to make the AR-15 assault rifle the national gun of the United States, showing up at Donald Trump’s criminal arraignment, and sending out assorted mean tweets — all in an obvious effort to gain attention to himself, and not his district or their pressing issues.
In that vain, his “service” to the people of the 3rd District is, on its own, a sham, a crock and complete bull manure.
It’s long past time for George Santos to get out of Congress. He needs to resign. And Congress needs to expel him immediately if he doesn’t voluntarily leave office.
Then Santos needs to pay the price for his alleged criminal deception. If convicted, he should be punished to the fullest extent that the law permits.
And hopefully, when all is said and done, the next would-be George Santos will think twice about trying to con their way into Congress.
