OAN Geraldyn Berry
UPDATED 5:31 PM – Monday, April 17, 2023
Despite demands for his resignation and ongoing federal, state, and local investigations, Representative George Santos (R-N.Y.) has declared on Monday that he is running for re-election.
The disgraced politician took to Twitter to make the announcement.
Santos’s decision to run for governor again despite having been caught lying on numerous occasions about his past both before and after winning the election last year.
Santos claimed in a statement on Monday that no one predicted his victory in 2022 since it was believed to be a safe Democratic seat. But he claimed that he triumphed by a margin of more than 8%. By a 53.8% to 46.2% margin, he defeated Democrat Robert Zimmerman.
“Not only won but made history as the first openly gay Republican elected to Congress,” he said.
Santos’ reelection campaign now reportedly has a limited budget to work with. According to a campaign finance report submitted on Saturday to the Federal Election Commission, his campaign had only $25,000 in its account as of March 31st. In the first three months of the year, the campaign had only brought in $5,000 and $8,000 was spent, all of which went toward refunding previous donors for their contributions.
Nassau County legislator Josh Lafazan, a Democrat, has now launched an opposing campaign for Santos’ seat.
In a tweet, Lafazan claimed that he and his team have raised $350,000 to kick George Santos out of the House.
Santos has adamantly disputed recent accusations that he was the brains behind a credit card ‘skimmer scheme’. He has also been accused of lying by publicly claiming that his mother was at the World Trade Center during the 9/11 attacks. In addition to that, Santos is believed to have allegedly stolen thousands of dollars raised for a veteran’s service dog in a life-saving surgery, and failing to submit proper and timely financial declarations.
Santos’ investigation was launched by the House Ethics Committee in March. The panel stated that it would look into whether Santos “engaged in unlawful activity with respect to his 2022 congressional campaign; failed to disclose required information on statements filed with the House; violated federal conflict of interest laws in connection with his role in a firm providing fiduciary services; and/or engaged in sexual misconduct toward an individual seeking employment.”
The FBI is looking into Santos in relation to the claim concerning a veteran’s service dog, who passed away after not receiving the money intended for the surgery.
He is also the subject of inquiries from the district attorney’s office in Nassau County and the office of the New York attorney general.
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