CNN
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Federal prosecutors have filed criminal charges against New York Rep. George Santos, the Republican lawmaker whose astonishing pattern of lies and fabrications stunned even hardened politicians, according to three sources familiar with the matter.
Santos is expected to appear as early as Wednesday in federal court for the Eastern District of New York, where the charges have been filed under seal.
The exact nature of the charges was not immediately known, but the FBI and public integrity prosecutors from the New York and Washington Departments of Justice have been looking into allegations of false statements in Santos’ campaign finance documents. and other claims.
The congressman’s lawyer declined to comment. Spokesmen for the Brooklyn US attorney’s office, the Justice Department and the FBI declined to comment.
The freshman congressman, who was elected last year to represent a district that includes parts of Long Island and Queens, has been investigated in multiple jurisdictions and by the House Ethics Committee.
Senior Democrats, joined by some New York Republicans, have called on Santos to resign over allegations ranging from criminal behavior on the campaign trail to petty personal dishonesty dating back more than a decade.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said he will look into the charges before determining whether he believes Santos should be removed from Congress.
“I will look into the charges,” the California Republican told CNN on Tuesday.
During his short tenure in office, Santos has been accused of breaking campaign finance laws, violating federal conflict of interest laws, stealing cash meant for a World War II veteran’s dying dog Iraq, planning a credit card fraud scheme and lying about where he went to school and worked.
Santos has admitted to making some misleading claims about his education and financial situation, but continues to deny the more serious allegations.
During his victorious campaign last year, Santos ran according to the Republican midterm playbook, hammering his Democratic opponent on crime and inflation. The message resonated in suburban New York, where GOP candidates flipped four seats en route to winning a narrow majority in the House.
But as Santos’ past came under closer scrutiny, with large chunks of his official biography revealed to have been conjured up out of thin air, he increasingly adopted the persona of a troll on the right
He showed his support for former President Donald Trump and once claimed that Democrats were “trying to ban toilet paper.”
New York Republicans have tried to distance themselves from Santos, repeatedly urging him to step down and insisting they knew nothing of his shady past. Meanwhile, Democrats are trying to shake off the embarrassment of not exposing Santos ahead of what promises to be an expensive race to win back his and other neighboring seats in 2024.
The cracks in Santos’ facade first made headlines in late December 2022, when The New York Times published a lengthy investigation that questioned large parts of the personal story he sold to voters during the campaign. What followed, however, was often stranger than fiction. A seemingly never-ending series of new revelations ranging from allegations that she stole a dog from an Amish farmer to her own earlier claims, all false, of playing high-level college volleyball.
As the stories piled up, former friends and associates of Santos began to come forward and share stories alleging that he had defrauded or misled them about his financial and professional status. A former roommate of the congressman told CNN earlier this year that Santos showed signs of “delusions of grandeur” during their time together.
“The truth has finally come out,” said Gregory Morey-Parker, who also accused Santos of stealing her scarf. A complaint, like so many others, that Santos denies.
This story has been updated with additional details.
