Former Rep. George Santos expected to plead guilty on charges related to campaign fraud
NBCAug 19
George Santos Pleads Guilty to Federal Charges
Above: Former US Rep. George Santos arrives for a court hearing at US District Court Eastern District of New York Long Island Courthouse on August 19, 2024 in West Islip, New York. Image copyright: Michael M. Santiago/Staff/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Facts
Former US congressman George Santos pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft and wire fraud on Monday in charges related to his 2022 midterm election campaign. As part of the plea agreement, Santos will serve at least two years in prison and pay restitution.
Santos had allegedly used fake donor names and artificially inflated the size of his fundraising contributions during the 2022 election cycle. The former representative will be sentenced in February and faces a maximum of 22 years; he has waived his right of appeal for sentences less than 95 months.
The Spin
Democratic narrative
This will hopefully be the last we hear from the convicted swindler for a long time, as his career remains emblematic of the kind of malaise that has taken hold in the Republican party. Santos was a serial liar and fabulist, much like their nominee, and the party failed to do any sort of vetting before allowing him to stand for election. The fact that he had a political career at all shows just how far the GOP has fallen under the specter of Trumpism.
Republican narrative
When the extent of Santos's duplicity was laid out in the House Ethics report, the lion's share of Republicans did the right thing and voted to give him the boot. The same cannot be said about the Democrats, with the corruption scandal rocking Sen. Bob Menéndez being a perfect example of their double standard when it comes to ethics. Republicans also need to go after the real rot in Washington with the same zeal that they went after the small-time Santos.