George Santos whines about “year from Hell” trying to “serve my country”

Beleaguered, scandal-hit Rep. George Santos is still determined to paint himself as a victim after the House Ethics Committee yesterday issued its bombshell report into his behavior.

His first response to the report was to clarify that he won’t be seeking re-election in 2024. Later yesterday evening, he issued a tweet about his “year from hell” and blasted the ethics committee over its findings.

“My year from Hell,” Santos began. “Running for office was never a dream or goal, but when the opportunity to do so came I felt the time to serve my country was now.

“Looking back today I know one thing, politics is indeed dirty, dirty from the very bottom up. Consultants, operatives, the opposition, the party and more… the one thing I never knew was that the process in Congress was dirty.

“I will continue to fight for what I believe in and I will never back down.

“What the ‘ethics committee’ did today was not part of due process, what they did was poison a the jury pool on my on going investigation with the DOJ. This was a dirty biased act and one that tramples all over my rights.”

He went on to invite the media to attend a press conference he’s planning on November 30th at 8am in DC, before wishing everyone a “Happy Thanksgiving.”

My year from Hell.

Running for office was never a dream or goal, but when the opportunity to do so came I felt the time to serve my country was now.

Looking back today I know one thing, politics is indeed dirty, dirty from the very bottom up. Consultants, operatives, the…

— George Santos (@MrSantosNY) November 17, 2023

The allegations against Santos

Santos is facing 23 federal charges relating to wire fraud, money laundering, and using credit card donations for personal gain. He denies the charges.

His House colleagues referred him to the Ethics Committee earlier this year. Yesterday it issued a 56-page summary which many believe will prompt another attempt by lawmakers to get him ejected from Congress.

The committee’s findings include numerous expenses not filed with the Federal Election Commission. These included money spent on Botox, spa stays, and OnlyFans subscriptions. Several expenses were racked up in Las Vegas at a time when Santos told his staff he was on honeymoon. Another $6,000 went on Ferragamo products.

Related:

George Santos blew campaign funds on the gayest things ever, report finds

He won’t wriggle out of this one so easily

Santos reportedly told a strategy firm he wanted to place TV advertising. It obtained $50,000 from two donors toward this goal. However, the money then ended up in Santos’ personal account. Some of it then went on payments to his credit card and a shopping spree at Sephora.

Santos also over-inflated the size of loans he made to his campaign. In one instance, he reported $81,000 in loans to his first campaign cycle. The committee could find evidence only of $3,500. Santos then received $31,200 in loan “repayments” during that election cycle.

The committee said it sifted through 170,000 pages of documents in preparing its report. It also says Santos largely ignored requests to correct his financial filings and turned down an invitation to give an interview under oath to explain himself.

According to The Hill, Republican Rep. Michael Guest (Mississippi), chairman of the ethics panel, plans to file a resolution to expel Santos. Santos has avoided expulsion so far, but this was largely due to fellow lawmakers wanting to wait and see what was in the Ethics Committee report.

Reaction to Ethics Committee’s report

Online, sympathy for Santos was in short supply.

Awww if it isn’t the consequences of your own actions 😁

— Maekyla Massey (@MaekylaMassey) November 17, 2023

I'm just going to spitball here representative George Santos. Have you ever thought about not committing criminal acts?

— Ford News (@FordJohnathan5) November 16, 2023

You ain't seen anything yet, criminal

If you think this year is bad, wait until your convicted and end up in prison

Send me a card. I'll make sure you can buy soap and pretty smelling essentials

— WTFGOP (@DogginTrump) November 17, 2023

Mr. Santos, when confronted on allegations he used campaign funds for Botox, appeared unmoved.

— Jack (@GayLaVie) November 16, 2023

George Santos explaining the OnlyFans charges on his campaign credit card pic.twitter.com/In37gbkULh

— 🍂🦃 Turkeith Nagy 🦃🍂 (@nagy_minaj) November 16, 2023

I guess the best thing about George Santos ripping off all that cash is that the people he victimized were people willing to give large amounts of cash to George Santos.

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) November 16, 2023

Everybody says "Be gay, do crimes" until someone does just that. SMDH. https://t.co/gbUgFNFR7v

— Eyes on the Right (@EyesOnTheRight) November 17, 2023

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