After the House ethics committee’s monthslong investigation into Rep. George Santos, there was one conclusion, according to a new report: Santos “cannot be trusted.”
The embattled lawmaker was already indicted last month on 23 criminal charges, and the ethics committee’s new report released Thursday breaks down the “substantial evidence” that shows Santos knowingly violated federal criminal laws.
For a year now, Santos has made headlines for his bizarre lies, from where he went to school, to where he worked, to whether his mom died in the 9/11 attacks or claiming he appeared on the Disney Channel show “Hannah Montana.” The ethics committee report reveals even more strange, and outright illegal, behavior. Here are some of the most surprising takeaways:
Santos doesn’t have a reputation for telling the truth, so it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that his tweet about cooperating with the House ethics committee turned out to be…a lie.
Paying down personal credit card bills and shopping at Sephora and Hermes were just some of the ways Santos spent thousands of dollars of campaign funds.
He also used it on OnlyFans purchases, a website he denied knowing about until recently.
When you’re living as fabulously as Santos is, Botox and spa treatments are a must, and both expenses were taken care of by campaign funds, according to the report. An Airbnb in the Hamptons topped it all off.
Beyond the outlandish spending, the ethics committee report shows Santos’ odd, and somewhat cultish, relationship with his staffers.
It’s unclear here which text bubble is Santos, but either way, this exchange with an aide leaves us with even more questions.
And finally, the only thing better than the picture used by Santos’ staff members for a 141-page “vulnerability report” is the damming table of contents that follows it.