Representative George Santos (R-NY) has attracted even more attention from law enforcement—this time, from the feds, who are reportedly conducting parallel investigations into his campaign finances.
BREAKING: Clown might be investigated for buffoonery.
Breaking: The DOJ Might Be Investigating because g*d forbid they get to a next step.
Or … they might not.
During his 2020 congressional campaign, he reported earning a modest salary of $55,000 from Harbor City Capital, an alleged ponzi scheme where he worked as their New York regional director. His next run, however, would boast a substantial pay bump to $750,000 and over $1 million in dividends from the Devolder Organization, his own company.
I presume it’s pretty easy for investigators to simply check the FEC filings against his tax returns. If his income there is lowballed compared to the $750k he claims to have earned in his high-flying executive position at the “Devolder Company”, then he’s either dead to rights for campaign finance violations since he never could have come up with $600k in campaign loans on his own, or for tax evasion because he didn’t declare all his income.
This is going to be a total shitshow because McCarthy is going to twist himself into pretzels worthy of a drunk Bavarian baker trying to keep DeSantos in his caucus because he needs the vote, while NY Republicans, particularly those on LI and others who won fairly close contests in other blue or purple districts last year, are going to be desperate to cut him loose before he becomes an albatross on all their backs.
So he got a little creative. Don’t make a federal case out of it.
Better DOJ, which seems to have dentures, than the utterly toothless FEC.
BTW, shouldn’t DOJ, which has eight divisions, add a ninth - the Republican Election Fraud and Crimes Division?
We need to find more salt for that McCarthy pretzel.
Santos’ main line of defense when asked about the misleading FEC filings has thus far consisted of playing dumb.
Santos’ main line of defense when asked about the misleading FEC filings has thus far consisted of playing dumb.
Playing???
Like Morning Memo and Editor’s Blog
TPM needs a new feature:
Daily Dose of Santos.
At this point, the best-case scenario for Santos is that it’s good old-fashioned mob money, or that he stole it himself.
The alternative is that it’s some hostile foreign intelligence service that was apparently not too selective about who they recruited.
“… giving them until March 2 to respond.”
WTF?
How about “George, we noticed a few problems with your campaign financing. It looks like your days are numbered in this town. Our rules technically give you until March 2 to respond, but please spare us by not sending more lies.”
Per the article, so far that’s been his strategy:
Santos’ main line of defense when asked about the misleading FEC filings has thus far consisted of playing dumb.
I don’t think it’s “easy” for investigators to obtain a copy of anyone’s tax returns. Get a warrant, bitches, and judges don’t hand out warrants to fishing expeditions, outside of Florida state judges.
Came here to write something snide about the DOJ and found I was REALLY late to the party. Glad I am in good company at least. Carry on.
I guess the DOJ has some reason for not tipping their hand on this one…
IS!
“Playing” ??? Nay, IS!
Don’t you know that before he founded Friends of Pets United he ran the World Wildlife Fund’s program to save the Albatross which are under extreme threat due to long line fishing and trawl nets?
There is not enough popcorn in the world to enjoy while George Santos get slowly depantsed in public.