geoff: Other major news on
capitol hill tonight focuses on
New York congressman George
Santos.
A federal grand jury has
indicted the freshman Republican
lawmaker on 13 charges, ranging
from wire fraud to money
laundering.
Santos was released on bond
today from a New York court
after pleading not guilty to the
charges.
>> I'm gonna fight my battle.
I'm going to deliver.
I'm going to fight the witch
hunt.
I'm going to take care of
clearing my name and I look
forward to doing that.
Geoff: Our congressional
correspondent Lisa Desjardins
has been following the story.
Lisa, walk us through these
charges and the congressman's
response of far.
Lisa: 13 federal charges.
The largest number of charges,
seven of them, are on wire
fraud.
That has to do with what
prosecutors said was fraud
committed to donors representing
that money was going to a
campaign because when they say
was going straight to his
pocket.
Three counts on money
laundering.
Two counts of making false
statements of the house of
representatives.
That has to do with his income
and how he reported that
falsely.
One count theft of public funds.
This is something we have not
talked about with George Santos
before.
Let's look at the indictment and
what they are talking about.
Here is some of the language.
For the period of on or about
March 2020 through April 2021,
based on false application, the
defendant received approximately
$24,744 in unemployment
insurance benefits.
What the claim is hereby
prosecutors is that George
Santos while he was running for
congress, and while he was
employed by a financial firm,
applied and received
unemployment benefits through
the covid relief programs.
He said today there is a
misunderstanding here and he
will defend himself.
As you heard, he calls this a
witchhunt.
Geoff: Santos is infamous for
fabricating parts of his life
story.
How unusual are these charges?
Lisa: It is not unusual to have
a member of congress indicted.
F7 -- we have had several
members indicted in the past 10
years.
But something that stands out as
this is not just for one kind of
crime, one campaign-finance
scheme.
These are for different types of
schemes.
This is something that was also
noted by federal prosecutors.
We spoke with one.
>> What you have here is
multiple different schemes and
falsehoods that were all told by
Mr. Santos and they are
unrelated to each other.
I think the problem for Mr.
Santos is the jury has to find
that he did not do any of these
things.
And I think there is an edited
-- additive effect.
While the jury is going to
consider each count
individually, at the end of the
day, this all comes down to his
credibility.
And not only is that going to be
in question, given all of the
allegations here, but of course,
he has other substantial baggage
that he brings to the table that
makes it very difficult for him
to defend himself.
Lisa: At the same time as you
know, there is also an ethics
investigation underway in the
house.
We don't know if we are going to
hear much more about that.
This also tests a new doctrine
in political theory, the trump
doctrine, which is just deny,
combat, and see what happens in
court.
We saw one example of what
happened to Mr. Trump earlier
this week and we will see what
happens with Mr. Santos going
forward.
Geoff: He has already
relinquished his committee
assignments, right?
Lisa: Yes, he has been forced
off the assignments.
Geoff: What more does this mean
for him politically?
Lisa: He says he is running for
elections.
He quipped today that maybe he
will become a committee
chairman.
But he is not popular in the
Republican party.
No one was defending him today
at the capitol, and some told us
he cannot wait for this man to
be out of congress and out of
elected office.
Now, it takes two thirds of the
house of representatives to
expel a member.
We do not think there is
anywhere near that.
There might be pressure for him
to resign if he is convicted,
but right now it looks like he
will ride this out, and speaker
Mccarthy says he will not push
for him to be pushed out.
Geoff: Because Mccarthy needs
has vote.
Lisa: That is a very important
point.
He has just a four vote margin
and George Santos was a key
vote.
Geoff: Lisa Desjardins,
following it all as always, good
to see you.
Lisa: Good to see you.
♪♪