Rep George Santos returned to the Capitol on Thursday following his arrest a day earlier for unemployment fraud – just in time to vote on a bill dealing with that exact topic.
It was a perfectly scripted moment to cap off a wild two-day media circus around his indicment in New York on 13 criminal counts. He has pleaded not guilty, and vowed to fight the charges in court.
On Thursday, moments after entering the building, the congressman was bombarded by questions about whether it was right for him to vote on such a bill while he himself was under criminal indictment for an alleged violation of that statute. The House is set to vote on that legislation Thursday afternoon.
What’s more, Mr Santos is co-sponsor of the legislation being introduced, which would strengthen America’s fraud laws by extending the statute of limitations for such investigations and providing more incentives for states to investigate and uncover fraud.
“Well, allegations are not proof, right, Rachel?” barked the Republican lawmaker at a journalist as he jogged up a flight of stairs away from gathered reporters.
Mr Santos surrendered to authorities in New York on Wednesday; his indictment followed months of rumours about a federal investigation closing in on the freshman Republican who was already known to have lied about virtually every aspect of his background during his 2022 congressional run. Among other falsehoods, Mr Santos is known to have lied about being the Jewish descendant of Holocaust survivors as well as being a graduate of New York’s Baruch College.
Since coming to Capitol Hill, he has faced near-constant calls for his resignation or expulsion from Democrats and even some Republicans, like Mitt Romney, who reiterated his demand for Mr Santos’s immediate departure on Wednesday as news of the indictment broke.
But Mr Santos has remained adamant that he will continue representing his district, even as a host of challengers on both sides of the aisle line up to unseat him. He has even maintained that he will run for reelection in 2024, for a second term.
Though he has few allies on Capitol Hill, Mr Santos has nevertheless cultivated a few political friendships among far-right Republicans like Marjorie Taylor Greene, and has made numerous floor speeches as he seeks to flood the zone with legitimate congressional work.
