Federal prosecutors have charged U.S. Rep. George Santos (R-N.Y.) with criminal violations of federal statues.
Originally reported by CNN on Tuesday, the exact nature of the charges couldn’t immediately be learned but the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department’s public integrity prosecutors in New York and D.C. have been examining allegations of false statements in Santos’ campaign finance filings and other claims.
CNN also reported that the congressman’s attorney declined to comment. Spokespeople for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn, the Justice Department and the FBI also declined to comment.
Santos is expected to appear as soon as Wednesday at the Theodore Roosevelt Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn, N.Y., where the charges have been filed under seal.
Santos has been under fire for months after a series of exposés revealed the congressman has lied about virtually every aspect of his biography. Additionally, a complaint filed with the Federal Election Commission by the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center alleges a wide scope of campaign finance law violations by the openly gay freshman lawmaker and his 2022 campaign committee, Devolder-Santos for Congress.
Allegations of campaign financial malfeasance is thought to have triggered the federal probe by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and the FBI’s New York Field Office.
The U.S. House Ethics Committee announced in March that it had voted unanimously to open an investigation of Santos over the allegations of financial and an incident of sexual misconduct.
The subcommittee’s inquiry will evaluate whether the embattled congressman’s required financial disclosures as a candidate contained illegal omissions or conflicts of interest, as well as an allegation by an applicant to his congressional office that Santos made unwanted sexual advances towards him.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said he will look at the charges before determining if he thinks Santos should be removed from Congress.
“I’ll look at the charges,” the California Republican told CNN on Tuesday.
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