Rep. George Santos has pleaded not guilty in federal court to charges that he stole the identities of donors and made fraudulent charges on their credit cards, among other allegations.
Mr. Santos’ attorney, Joseph Murray, entered the not guilty plea Friday on behalf of the New York Republican, and U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert scheduled a trial date for Sept. 9, 2024, two months before his congressional re-election bid.
The charges were revealed in a superseding indictment filed earlier in the month. They include allegations that Mr. Santos embezzled money from his company and conspired with his former campaign treasurer, who recently pleaded guilty, to forging donation sums to meet fundraising targets established by national Republicans.
Mr. Santos, 35, now faces 23 charges since the new set of charges came down. He pleaded not guilty in May to 13 federal charges, which included seven counts of wire fraud, three counts of money laundering, one count of theft of public funds, and two counts of making materially false statements to the House.
His court arraignment on Friday came one day after a group of New York Republicans, spearheaded by Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, filed a resolution to expel Mr. Santos from Congress.
The expulsion measure, which requires a two-thirds majority for passage, was co-sponsored by New York Reps. Brandon Williams, Mike Lawler, Nick LaLota and Marc Molinaro.
The resolution, first announced on Oct. 11, states that “George Santos is not fit to serve” as a congressman, and was read on the House floor by Mr. D’Esposito on Thursday.
“While George Santos is entitled to his day in court to plead his innocence, the people of New York’s 3rd Congressional District deserve a representative who is solely focused on serving the public and not spending the majority of their time combating 23 federal charges such as wire fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds,” he said. “We must remove this con man from Congress.”
It cites pending criminal charges against Mr. Santos, his admitted lies about his background and his “history of misrepresenting his and his family’s connections to major events, including the Holocaust, Sept. 11th terrorist attacks, and the Pulse nightclub shooting.”
Mr. Santos, in a social media post Thursday, responded to the expulsion measure and said he was entitled to due process.
“Three points of clarification: 1. I have not cleared out my office. 2. I’m not resigning. 3. I’m entitled to due process and not a predetermined outcome as some are seeking. God bless!” he posted.
He previously called the expulsion measure a “dangerous precedent” to set before he was found guilty of a crime.
Newly elected Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, is taking a similar position on Mr. Santos to the one espoused by his Republican predecessor, Kevin McCarthy of California, who said Mr. Santos deserved his day in court and should not be expelled before then.
“George Santos is due due process … and we have to allow the process to play itself out,” Mr. Johnson told Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity in an interview that aired Thursday.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.