It’s not an easy time for Rep George Santos to be posting pictures of his dog on the internet.
Mr Santos, who is accused of lying about his background and is under federal investigation over his financial dealings, was accused of stealing dogs in Pennsylvania’s Amish County in 2017 after he purchased dogs from a number of breeders with bad checks.
After allegedly making out bad checks totaling $15,125 for “puppies,” Mr Santos held an adoption event at a pet store in Staten Island. Politico reported that he was ultimately able to get the theft charge dismissed and his record expunged by claiming that someone had stolen his checkbook.
Mr Santos is also accused of stealing $3,000 from a GoFundMe drive meant to fund lifesaving surgery for a service dog. So, when Mr Santos posted an photograph of his own dog in a cone on Twitter on Monday, people were not so charitable in their commentary.
“As cruel as these cones can be they are for the best,” Mr Santos wrote. “My four legged lamp aka Aurora is recovering from her surgery. 9 years strong!”
“I’d consider sitting out tweeting about dogs’ health issues,” the journalist Aaron Rupar replied.
Plenty of other replies came flooding in. Some told Mr Santos that even he deserves a dog’s love while other people said that they’d rather have the dog representing them in Congress. Mr Santos has resisted all calls for him to resign his seat in the House despite the myriad allegations and investigations he’s facing.
The New York Times reported on Monday that Mr Santos’ congressional campaign did not account for more than $365,000 in spending — an unusually high number for congressional candidates. Mr Santos’ staff declined to comment on the story; the same day, the congressman posted his tweet.
“You forgot to put a GoFundMe up to steal from,” Nancy Lee Grahn wrote in response to the tweet.
Mr Santos, a Republican, represents a New York district in Congress. He’s also facing allegations of criminal activity in Brazil.
